For Love of Mother
by cobalt-blue
Summary: As the goddess of War, queen of the Amazons, and Wonder Woman, Diana is overwhelmed. In an attempt to return her mother to the throne, and to try and set things right for Donna Troy's murder of the Sons of Themyscira, she travels to the Marvel Universe to meet with Thor who supposedly knows someone who can help Hypolyta. X-over with Godstones and Earth Reforged Universes as well.
1. Chapter 1

The last couple of years had been more than a little challenging for Diana, Queen of Themyscira, and Goddess of War. She had seen the throne of Olympus change occupants several times before her father returned to it. She had ascended to the status of godhood among the Olympians, she'd stood by her friend and lover Kal El also known as Superman, as he died saving the world, and she'd had the veil pulled from her eyes about her sister Amazons, and had not liked what she'd seen.

Now, troubled by the recent imprisonment and then release of Donna Troy who now went by the name Amazon, even after she'd murdered the Sons of Themyscira, Diana knew that she had to find some way to set things right. She could not serve as the Goddess of War, the Queen of the Amazons, and Wonder Woman all at the same time. She had to find a way to give up at least one of the mantles, to lay aside something so that her people and the people of the world would not suffer.

The easiest thing would be to give up Wonder Woman, but she knew the world needed Wonder Woman. What her heart wanted was the return of her mother from the curse of being turned to stone, and what was impossible was to give up the mantle of Goddess of War. That would require her death at the hands of another Olympian, and to be honest, there were none that she trusted with the responsibility. All of this had led her to seek out the advice of another member of the Justice League, someone who was an expert on all things magic.

Zatanna had been able to at least help her distill the problem down to the above three choices. She could not resolve any of them for her. She knew no way of returning the Queen of the Amazons from the shattered clay that she had become. She surely could not become their queen, and she could not find for her a fit replacement as War. Moreover, she was incapable of allowing her to be Wonder Woman while being the other two at the same time. But she had at least given her a direction in which to look.

After the recent unpleasantness that had been wrought upon her, Bruce, and this new, married, Clark, by Mogul and the White Mercy, she'd taken a leave of absence as Wonder Woman. She had things to work out as much as they, and those could no longer wait. And that was what found her here, at the gates of Heliopolis on Mount Othrys, the home of the Titans of old.

She knew as an Olympian, this was truly walking into the stronghold of the enemy, but she had no choice. She hoped that the Titanomachy had been long enough in the past that they would at least hear her out. But after a week, the huge iron gates had refused to open, and the denizens behind it had not even acknowledged that she had knocked.

Finally, on the seventh day, as her hope of finding some answer was dimming, a dark-haired woman of a physical age not unlike her own and surrounded by a flaming nimbus of light and fire appeared over the walls. With her was a similarly adorned young man only slightly younger with blond hair. They both wore long robes and cloaks. Inside of each of these, she could feel the spark of the divine clear and obvious, unmasked unlike her own brothers and sisters on Mount Olympus. They landed outside the gates. The woman was a full titan, powerful, and strong, but as new to her status as Diana was to her own. The young man had the small touch of mortal to him. He was more than a demigod, but not quite a god himself.

"What brings the scion of my cousin, Zeus to the walls of Heliopolis?" the woman asked with a smile.

"Cousin?" Diana asked.

"My father is Hyperion, Zeus is his brother and your father I am told. That makes him my cousin, and you my second cousin, I believe. At least that is the way of the mortals," the woman said with a friendly smile. "I am Alessa, and this is my son Mark."

Diana raised an eyebrow and asked, "Mark. That is hardly a Greek name."

"And Diana is?" Mark asked. "Diana is as Roman as Mark."

"Touche," she replied. Looking at Alessa she said, "I have come here seeking information. I have not come to fight, or to spy, or with any other ulterior motive."

"You come seeking information on one who has broken the gorgon's curse," Alessa said.

Diana was surprised at the woman's knowledge of her quest as she had yet to express it herself. Nodding her raven head, she replied, "I have."

"And you come wearing the insignia of the United States," Alessa said with a smile.

"Is that a problem?" Diana asked her.

Again the woman smiled and dropped her cloak and robes to reveal a costume, although considerably different from her own, but still with the same motif. "Not at all. However, I believe that we should speak."

"I am willing to listen," Diana said firmly.

"Good," Mark replied and walked over to the gate. He touched the side column with his hand, and heat and light flared from it, before the gates faded away. "You show more wisdom than I expected Cousin." Diana got the feeling that he was unimpressed with her, and for some reason that bothered her. The fact that it bothered her was even more troubling.

Alessa shook her head at her son and said, "Please forgive Mark. Our family has recently experienced a very disconcerting setback and he's adjusting to a life in Heliopolis he did not expect to experience for several more centuries."

The young man shook his head and said, "I simply don't understand how her reality can shrug off these kinds of events when ours couldn't."

"Because her reality has not experienced them, Mark. You forget. No matter how powerful your grandfather, or any of the others are, their might is still is a shadow of that of the Omniverse's Patrons."

"I don't understand," Diana said.

"That is why you are here, Diana of Themyscira. And it is why I have been sent to aid you. My father holds no grudges against the Olympians as long as they do not seek to imprison the Titans again. He hopes that by offering the new Goddess of War aid in her quest, that his brothers and sisters on the other side of the Titanomachy will come to peace as well." She smiled and said, "I find it ironic that the first of the Olympians to come to us in peace is the Goddess of War."

"And what role do you play among the Titans?" Diana asked.

"The reason she has been sent to you," Mark said. "My mother has ascended to the role of Titan of Heroes. I believe that is a title that has been applied to you. That is why she is playing Mentor to your Telemachus."

"Telemachus was trying to save his mother," Diana said.

"And you are trying to save yours," Alessa replied.

"Yes," Diana agreed as she followed them into the marbled city of Heliopolis. She was surprised at how many mortals walked the streets, and how many modern conveniences seemed to have crept into the world.

"Your city is much different from Olympus," she said. "You surprise me."

"Sometimes one must lose before one can learn from one's mistakes. My father is a wise man. He has told me many things of the Omniverse, and has suggested that I share them with you." She turned to Diana and asked, "You can fly?"

Diana nodded and said, "Yes."

"Then follow us," the woman told her as she took to the air. The young man dropped his cloak to reveal a white and blue costume much like her friends in the League might wear, and joined his mother.

Flying across the city, Diana saw great wonders of science, art, and even technology. Heliopolis was not the static power-filled halls of Olympus. It was a thriving, growing city where the mortal and the divine lived side by side in a harmony that surprised Diana to find outside of Themyscira. Then she remembered the events on her home with the Sons of Themyscira and realized that that peace and harmony had been a sham. The Amazonian ideals of justice, sisterhood, and peace had been a poorly constructed facade that had disguised rape, murder, and attempted infanticide. The thought brought to her a sadness that weighed heavily on her heart. Diana had lost much of her innocence over the past few years, and she fought to keep it from making her jaded.

Finally, reaching a section of the city that was constructed of huge white marble estates with well-cared for lawns, fountains, and wind chimes some of which defied the laws of physics, the trio landed in one of the courtyards. Alessa smiled and said, "Welcome to my home."

"Thank you," Diana told her as she touched down and felt the pull of gravity on her once more.

"Can you genuinely help me find a cure for my mother?"

"Mark, why don't you go and ask Alcestis to prepare some afternoon refreshments for us. Then please join us again," Alessa said.

When the young man turned to leave, Alessa replied, "I think I might be able to put your feet on the right path. It won't be easy, and the price may eventually be high. From what I've come to understand you seek someone to first repair the damage of your mother's crumbled statue, and then break the curse that turned her into it in the first place." She stopped and said, "But first, let me express my condolences on your recent losses." She turned to look at the retreating form of her son and said, "Mark and I understand great losses."

"How do you know this?" Diana asked.

"Because you are on a hero's quest," Alessa said. "That makes it my job to know."

Still unsure of her surroundings, or even of reality, Diana simply nodded. Heliopolis was nothing like she was expecting. She had expected it to be on a physically larger scale than Olympus, but instead it was much more like a mortal city—with an infusion of technology that she' would never have guessed.

"And you know someone who has done this?" she asked.

"I know _of_ someone. But as I said, the price of that information is likely to be high, possibly higher than you are willing to pay," the woman told her calmly. There was a sadness in her eyes that cut Diana to the core. This woman had known loss not unlike her own.

"I understand," Diana replied. "But I cannot continue holding three different roles that are in conflict with each other." She sighed and then added, "And technically, it is not the gorgon's curse but one lain on my mother by Hera for daring to have an affair with my father. Even she was unable to remove it."

Alessa nodded and said, "Such is my Aunt's way. She never seems to be able to let go of her anger. Granted, much of it directed toward her husband is justified, but she takes things too far by attacking the women he seduces and their children."

"She is after all the goddess of marriage," Diana said sadly. "My father's indiscretions make a mockery of that role." Yes, she was angry at Hera, but she could not bring herself to hate the goddess who'd been a patron of Themyscira from the beginning.

Alessa nodded and said, "Then there are some things you need to know."

"Such as?" Diana asked with far more patience than she felt.

"I am sure that you are aware of the existence of the multiverse. The very fact that Olympus, Heliopolis, Tartarus, and such all exist, and that you have traveled to them tells me that much."

"I am aware," Diana said. "I am also aware of parallel realities with fifty-two separate Earths from ours."

Alessa nodded and said, "That is the multiverse as you know it." Offering Diana a seat in the shade next to a fountain that flowed sideways along the garden wall, she continued, "But what you may not know is that there are far more than just one multiverse."

"Please explain," Diana said falling into the learning mode she'd learned as a young girl among the Amazons.

Alessa smiled and said, "Let us wait for Mark's return. I think he may have some insights you may find valuable."

Remembering the young man's eyes, Diana said, "I do not think that he likes me very much."

"It's not you that he dislikes. It's the fact that you wear the symbols of a country you do not represent. He feels that you dishonor both Themyscira and the United States by doing so." She frowned and said, "And to be honest, he has heard of the fate of the Sons of Themyscira and is very unhappy with the rape and murder of men on the seas, and then the murder of those who were taken in by Hephaestus. He has a soft spot in his heart for that particular Olympian."

"I don't understand," Diana said.

Alessa leaned back, and seemed to be considering how to answer when the young man in question entered the courtyard and snorted, "So much for the Wisdom of Athena."

Alessa jerked her head toward her son and said, "Mark, mind your manners."

He bowed his head and said, "As my mother wishes. If you would prefer I leave?"

"No, not at all," Diana quickly said. "I am curious as to what I might be missing."

The young man nearly rolled his eyes before looking at his mother seemingly to be asking permission. The other woman nodded her head and said, "Look closely at my mother. You are analogs of each other. You each are the daughter of the ruler of your divine kin. You each were sent into the outside world, outside of the safe haven of your homes to help mankind in their hour of need. You have earned the mantle of true godhood through word and deed, but you are but a dark reflection of her."

"Dark reflection?" Diana asked surprised.

Looking again at his mother and then to Diana, he said, "Dark. For a goddess you do not recognize loyalty and friendship when it is offered by anyone other than another woman. I see it as a reflection of your twisted upbringing on an island of rapists and women who would murder their own children."

Diana felt her fists clench at her sides, but remained seated. She'd come here seeking help, her temper would do her no good at this time. And his accusations were not without their merits. "Exactly what do you speak of?" she asked.

He shook his head and said, "It is not important. Perhaps it is a mystery you may discover on your quest." He stopped and said, "I honestly hope you do. My mother and I have lost our outside world, but perhaps you won't lose yours."

"This is the third time you've spoken of loss," Diana looked back to Alessa. Taking a moment to study her again, she could see the resemblance. Yes they were distantly related, second cousins at best, but there was an analogous symmetry between them that she had not before noticed.

Alessa nodded and said, "Mark and I have only recently returned to the safety of Heliopolis. Like Olympus, this city, this mountain, sits on a nexus point of realities, touching many Earths. Some are more easily reached than others. The reality to which I was sent to aid mankind was very far away from this small cluster of realities. The Earth where Mark was born was recently destroyed by forces far more powerful than even we gods."

"You mean like Darkseid?" Diana asked.

Mark scoffed and replied, "Darkseid is but an annoyance to these beings. Should he threaten an Earth under their protection he would be as easily wiped out of existence as you would swat a fly." Taking a deep breath, the young man said, "Perhaps we should start with some basic information for you. I'm afraid that your new status among the gods may not have made some facts of reality, or realities as it were, clear to you."

Diana was unsure if the young man was being belligerent or not. She held her own temper and said, "Please explain." She was very proud of the fact that she kept out of her voice the edge of anger she was beginning to feel.

The young man smiled at her and said, "Neither the gods, nor even the Titans created the universe, nor even the Earths. To the contrary, it is the other way around. The omniverse created the various universes. It then created the First, the Titans. From the Titans descended the gods. The Titans and the Gods then spread out over all realities and began to shape parts of it to their will. This is true of our people, it is true of other gods as well. First came the giants, then the gods. Each of the gods created their peoples, using the elements of the world to forge them, but using a template upon which they all agreed. Some used metals of the Earth, some used wood, and some used the raw red clay." He smirked, "It took your father five times to get it right. I have heard it said that it is because he refused to read the instruction manual."

Diana couldn't help but smile at that comment. Her father did have a reputation of not being willing to listen to the advice of others. "I've been called clay before."

The blond young man raised an eyebrow and said, "Actually, there I was referring to the Christian legend of Adam being made from the red clay of the Earth. It was not meant as an insult." Diana had no idea how easily his tone, his attitude could flash from contempt to contrition.

Diana nodded and said, "I have never been under the delusion that my father nor any other god created the Earth, or the universe."

Mark smiled and said, "Good. That's a start. But you have to realize that the Omniverse, the combination of all the multiverses in all of creation, has its own servants, and they are as powerful as any of the gods." He stopped and looked at first his mother and then Diana. "You both are new to your status as gods, and haven't quite come to understand all the nuances of what it means."

"And you do?" his mother asked raising an eyebrow.

Mark smiled and said, "Like I've told you before, Grandfather and I speak a great deal, on a great many subjects. I may not have your power, but I think I understand it far better than either of you do."

"So the child teaches the parent?" Diana asked with a smile.

"I've learned that sometimes out of the mouths of babes can come the wisdom of the gods," he told her. "Now do you wish to hear what I'm trying to say?"

"Go ahead," Diana told him.

Looking at her, he said, "You are now your Earth's holder of the Greek divine mantle of War. But you are not yet fully aware of what that means. The only way you can lose that mantle is to be killed by another being from your same blood line. And your world, the world on which Themyscira sits, is both your power-base and your weakness. You can die in any other reality, but you will always reform on that Earth. If you die there, however, you will die forever." He smiled and said, "Like I told you, it is your weakness and your strength."

Diana turned to Alessa and asked, "And your Earth?"

"Destroyed by a being of immense power who wished to see obliterated, any Earth with powers beyond mortal. But I was born here in Heliopolis, so this is from where I draw my strength. Mark was born on that other world. That means he will never be able to ascend any farther than he already has." She smiled at her son, took his hand and said, "And I know that thought bothers him."

The young man shrugged and replied, "I will learn to cope." Again Diana was surprised at how swift his emotions could change. "I have family I can visit and that always helps."

"Please continue," Diana said.

He sighed and seemed to gather his thoughts. "One thing that neither of you yet know that you can do is to project a portion of your power into other realities."

"And you do?" Alessa asked.

"Grandfather taught me, but as you pointed out, I have not fully ascended so the process is extremely tiring for me. For my Mother and our guest, it should be ridiculously easy," he told them.

"Are you making fun?" Alessa asked.

He snorted bitterly and said, "Only at myself." Then turning to Diana, he said, "And this is a skill, that you will have to master before you can fulfill your quest."

"Why?' Diana asked.

"Because you need to go to a world you may not visit as a goddess. You are forbidden by the Patrons of the Omniverse to go there in any form other than an avatar."

"A manifestation of my will of considerably less power than my true form?" Diana asked remembering her lessons as a child about the nature of the Patrons of Themyscira. "Where is this world?"

"I don't know," Mark said.

"Then how can you help me?" Diana asked.

"First off, we don't know where it is, but we know someone who does. But you are going to have to convince him to tell you. And to do that, you're going to have to go and ask him, and that means you will have to leave this cluster of fifty-two parallel Earths and venture a bit further along the web of the omniverse."

"Exactly what am I looking for?" Diana asked.

The two Titans looked at each other and finally Alessa said, "The children of Selene and Endymion."

"They had fifty daughters," Diana replied. "Which one?"

"Not those," Mark said. Perhaps you have not heard the rest of the tale. I would be surprised if you had. Endymion is your half brother by your father. But that has never stopped Zeus in the past. Eventually, he became as enchanted by Endymion's charms as Selene, but could not win the heart, or in this case, the loins of his own son. When Selene asked as a favor of Zeus that he should make Endymion immortal so that she might always be with him, Zeus in his usual fashion twisted the request. As repayment for standing with the Olympians against her own brothers and sisters, Zeus put Endymion into an eternal sleep so that he would always be preserved for Selene. But if he could not have him, neither would she."

Diana shook her head. She did not doubt this one bit. Zeus had once tried to take her as a lover as well, and had reacted poorly when Diana had rejected him. "So which of their daughters?" Diana asked.

"The tale is yet finished," Alessa said. "One night several decades ago, she stole away with Endymion to a world that fell more under the influence of another group of gods. There she worked to eventually free the sleeping Endymion from Zeus' curse. After years of work, she managed just that, and the two had a short time together. Selene became pregnant once again, and birthed twins, a boy and a girl."

"That seems to be a theme of late," Diana said bitterly thinking of her own missing twin, Jason.

"It does, doesn't it. These twins, Artemis and Apollo, you and Jason," Alessa voiced Diana's thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Alessa continued, "Eventually, Zeus found out about it and was so enraged that he sent one of the gorgons to destroy the whole family. But Selene had made allies with the old gods who held greater sway in that world, and protected her children. Endymion was the only victim of the gorgon."

Mark picked up the narration, "But being the children of a Titaness, and an Olympian demigod, the twins proved to be more than a match for the gorgon's curse. It took them about fifteen years, but they eventually freed their father, and Selene took him away where they now live quietly and out of the infighting of either the Olympians or the Titans."

"And this place is where?" Diana asked.

Mark shrugged and said, "We don't know. My grandfather is far more willing to make peace with the Olympians than he is with a Titan who stood with is enemies during the Titanomachy. She has never lived here in Heliopolis."

"Do you know how I might be able to find her?" Diana asked. "Or better yet, where I might find her children?"

Again the other two looked at each other. Finally Mark sighed and said, "I know who you can ask. It is an Earth to where you can travel. Actually, it is an Earth you've been to before but don't remember it. Where you met defeat in the most illogical ignoble way I can imagine. How you, the daughter of Zeus could be felled by a lightning bolt thrown by a mortal while in the sky, I have no idea. You weren't even grounded." Diana shook her head, and for a brief instant and African woman with white hair and eyes flashed across her sight before fading away.

Alessa took a deep breath and said, "But to go there is dangerous. Your brother Ares still holds the mantle of War there. If you kill him there, he will return. If he kills you, it will have no effect in your world, but it will keep you from the one to whom you need to speak."

Diana nodded and asked, "And to whom do I need to speak?"

"The thunder god, Thor," Mark said with a mischievous smile. "It is a reality where he likes to go and play."

"Play?" Diana asked.

Mark nodded and said, "Yes. He's convinced the mortals there that the Asgardians are only advanced aliens who were once thought of as gods. He tones down his powers to a fraction of what they are, and plays at being a superhero. He's even allowed himself to appear to be killed on occasion."

"That is just weird," Diana told him.

"The Norse are a strange people. But Selene has made allies with one of the Norse goddesses and one of the Jotuns. Thor can take you to one of them, and they can help you find Selene and her twins."

"But you must be wary. The Earth on which the twins now reside is one where you may only enter as an avatar. You may not go there as the Goddess of War. It has been sealed for reasons involving a war in which you do not wish to embroil yourself," Mark said.

"Hence you will teach me the technique to project an avatar?" Diana asked. The young man nodded and smiled. "And what price do you ask for that service?" she added warily.

"Only that you deliver a message and a package for me," he said.

Alessa suddenly looked at her son in surprise. "What message, and what package, and to whom?" she demanded.

Mark took a deep breath and said, "I think you know to whom, Mother. As for the message and the package, that is my concern."

Diana turned to the other woman and asked, "You are concerned about this?"

Alessa shook her head in resignation and said, "Yes, and no. On our world, Mark had been involved with someone."

"Someone of whom you disapproved," Mark said.

"I hold no animosity toward the Daeoni, Mark. I simply did not desire one as a son or daughter in-law."

"I am confused," Diana said.

Mark pulled from his belt a letter and handed it to Diana. Looking to his mother, he said, "It's a proper good-bye, Mother. Nothing more, nothing less."

"And that round shape in the envelope?" she demanded.

"I am returning the ring xe gave me," Mark said. Then turning to Diana, he said, "When you reach the world with the twins, please give that to Prion Hunter Daire of Feyhold for me. Tell xem..., tell xem..., I'm sorry. For everything." Diana could see hard fought pride shoved down in the young man's eyes with the last request. The Amazonian princess nodded and slid the envelope under her bracer.

"I will see to it," she said looking at Alessa who seemed to be processing what had just happened. It was clear the other woman was not happy with the agreement, but she was going to live with it.

"Now, let's get to your lessons," Mark said. "They should not take long and then I will open the gate to this other Earth for you. From there, you will have to find your own way."


	2. Chapter 2

"You will excuse me if I do this my way," the young Titan who'd been her instructor over the last several days said as they hovered in the spaces between reality.

Diana smiled at the young man. She'd been able to eventually pierce the rough exterior he presented to her and reach the hero beneath; the hero who'd seen his world destroyed, and who'd been returned to the realm of his grandfather and his mother against his will. Diana got the impression that had Alessa not insisted that he return to Heliopolis with her, he'd have followed his lover to whatever fate awaited them. The love for mother she could understand. "You are the guide here," she told him.

He nodded and held out his hands. Fire arced between his palms as he widened the distance between them and tore a hole in barrier between realities. In a matter of seconds it was big enough for her to pass through. "You won't forget about the letter?" he reminded her.

Shaking her head, she said, "I won't forget about the letter. Prion Hunter Daire of Feyhold."

"Thank you," he told her with a nod and a slight smile.

Leaning over, she briefly kissed him on the cheek and said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Nodding, she could see tears welling up in his eyes. He indicated the hole and said, "Manhattan. But fair warning. Ares knows that I've opened the hole."

"Thank you again," she said as she arced her back and fell through the hole into the clear blue sky below.

The blow hit her even before she could gain her bearings. Ares always knew how to strike first and hardest. She fought to regain her flight as she tumbled across the air above the city, slamming through a tall building that broke part of her momentum before she crashed through another building located in the middle of Central Park. * _Welcome to this world, Princess (or is it Queen now?) Diana. You disappoint me in letting your guard down so quickly,_ * Ares' voice echoed through the halls of her mind.

Wiping the blood from her mouth, she stood to see several people come running out of the building she'd just smashed through. One was the woman who had flashed through her mind a few days ago. "Ares, I did not come to fight," she growled as she took to the air.

* _But a fight you shall have, sister dear. For if you wish to meet with my friend, then you must first prove yourself worthy of it,_ * Ares said. * _I think we will begin with a rematch. I really have no idea what happened to you in that last battle._ 1 _I suspect that this one will end differently. If not, then your quest here will be ended and you must find another way._ *

The woman rose into the air on swirling winds, her usually lovely face marred by the influence of the God of War's mind on hers. "You attack our school at your own peril!" she screamed. "Who are you, some Captain America wannabe? Some right-wing zealot come to kill mutant children!? We are no victims!"

Suddenly lightning flashed from the clear sky striking Diana full in the chest. She felt the hair on her skin begin to rise as the static built around her harmlessly. She sensed the woman trying to complete the circuit between Diana and the ground to deliver the jolt of power. With a speed borne of thought, she raced toward the woman, grabbed her. Instantly she knew that the woman was mortal, perhaps not human, but was no match for her divine strength and power, or even that of an Amazon. She gently rapped her across the jaw with a single punch and let her drop to the ground below as the circuit completed itself blasting through her falling form.

"You should know better than to hurl lightning at the daughter of Zeus!" Diana said. "I do not wish to fight you!"

Minute changes in air pressure told her of the attack coming just nanoseconds before it landed. Whirling in the sky, she brought up her bracer and easily deflected several blasts from a red and yellow armored form back toward it. As the bolts of concussive force ricocheted first off her bracelets and then his armor, Diana could see apertures on his shoulders open up in preparation to fire tiny missiles. Rocketing forward faster than his mortal reflexes could counter, she ripped the missiles from their housing and then began peeling the armor from the man inside. By the time the first piece hit the ground, the man was falling, his jet boots fighting to maintain his flight. The dark-haired man looked up to her in surprise as he spiraled to the ground out of control. She noted that his eyes were glazed over from drink or some other substance. In the distance she saw another suit rocketing toward it. From its rigid posture, she knew this was a back-up suit of some kind, empty of human occupant. Grabbing her lasso from her side, she then lashed out with it to snare the errant suit. Then casually, she yanked it toward her as she summoned with her bracers the sword Hephaestus had given her. In a single stroke she sliced the suit from head to crotch and watched it fall toward the ground in two pieces. The man below looked rather shocked when he was caught by a short haired woman in her twenties. Both seemed to sink into the ground like ghosts.

* _Not bad sister! You' have neutralized one Omega Class Mutant and Iron Man in a matter of seconds. I told Thor this would be more fun than just letting you walk into the mansion. He is always so careful not to let the mortals know our true power._ * She could almost see her brother smile in her mind as he said. * _Just two more, and I will have had my fun. Then you and the Thunderer can talk. I promise you, it's better this way. He'll respect you more._ *

Locking in on the mansion near the park that Mark had shown her, she touched down in the middle of Fifth Avenue when something small and brown came barreling toward her. Turning she saw a short hairy man with metal claws protruding from the back of his hands charging her, his eyes filled with hatred and the lust for battle. He leapt, arms and claws extended. She sidestepped and brought the blade she carried down across the base of the claws. He didn't even realize that he'd been declawed and had missed her until he hit the side of a low wall at the edge of the mansion.

* _Now, now, sister. Those claws are adamantium. Nothing is supposed to be able to damage them._ *

This was ridiculous. She did not come here to fight, and her brother was forcing these mortals to fight her even though they stood no chance against her. "Too bad, Brother-dear," she growled aloud. "This sword was forged by Hephaestus himself and can shave the electrons off an atom.2 It can and has removed the limbs of a Kryptonian.3"

" **Hulk smash!** " a loud voice echoed off the concrete canyons from above her.

Looking up, she saw the falling form of a giant bestial green man coming down on her location. Shaking her head, she dashed to the wall, grabbed the short man—he was heavier than he looked—and placed him where she had been standing before. They left a three meter hole in the street where they crashed into the sewers. Several other costumed beings gathered nearby. She lowered her gaze at the young woman who had caught the falling Iron Man and said, "I did not come here to fight, sister. You are under the effect of my brother, Ares. I came to speak with the Thunderer. That is all."

"Then why did you attack our school?" the woman demanded.

"I didn't" Diana told her. "I was knocked through it by Ares. I apologize for the damage."

As the man in the armor stood behind the woman, Diana noted he patted her several times on the bottom. In a pirouette worthy of a ballerina, the woman spun in place and ax kicked the man in the side of the head. He went down like a sack of potatoes. Mumbling quietly, "It's about time somebody did that to you, Mr. Stark." Then she turned around to Diana, smiled and said, "I'm sorry. You were saying."

Suddenly the Earth rumbled beneath them all, and the giant monster came bursting through the street at Diana. Holding up a finger, she said, "Hold that thought."

Turning to the being who she assumed was named Hulk, she grabbed him and rocketed straight up at multiples of the speed of sound. The giant was so surprised by her action that it was nearly five seconds before he reacted. By that time, they'd reached escape velocity and she had released him as he headed toward the outer atmosphere vainly grasping toward her.

Returning to the ground below, she saw the young woman talking to her brother and a huge blonde man carrying a hammer. "The Avengers will cover the damage to the school, Shadowcat," the blond man was saying.

Looking first to the man she suspected was Thor and then to Ares, the woman evidently named Shadowcat, shook her head and said, "The next time you want to have a family reunion, Ares. Have it somewhere else where there are fewer breakable things, like the City of New York. Just consider yourself lucky none of my students were injured." Then turning to Diana she asked, "What did you do with the Hulk?"

She smiled and said, "He should circle the Earth several times before his orbit decays. If I judged it correctly, he should come down somewhere in the middle of the Pacific where he will cause as little damage as possible."

Then to Diana's surprise, she turned to Ares and said, "You had better send someone to get him before he runs out of oxygen, turns back into Doctor Banner and burns up on re-entry."

Much to her surprise, Ares nodded to the young woman and said, "As you wish." Looking around, he saw man with yellow, red, and green skin floating in front of the door of the mansion, a huge yellow cloak billowing behind him, and a gem glowing in his forehead. "Vision, would you mind retrieving the Hulk. It would be unfortunate if Doctor Banner died before it was his time."

Nodding mechanically, the man rose into the sky and rocketed away. The huge blond man with the hammer chuckled and said, "Perhaps we should take this conversation indoors." He clapped a hand on Ares' shoulder and said, "Ares and I were watching a contest on television. The Titans vs. the Vikings. I believe his team was losing when we left."

Ares shook his dark head and said, "Come on Sister dear. You might as well come on in. You have passed the tests I've set for you."

"With surprising ease," Thor said. "Did you not warn her to play weaker?"

"Of course not, Thor. Diana deserves to be seen in all of her glory. She after all, did manage to kill me in her own reality," Ares said with a grin as the three entered the mansion. Diana felt that Ares still had one card to play, but something told her that it was not her he was playing against with it.

As she followed the two other gods through the hallways of the mansion, they arrived at what looked like a recreation room. On a huge monitor on one wall was a paused game of football. Thor turned to her and said, "Welcome to Avengers Mansion, Diana of Themyscira. Although this is usually the job of the Housefrau, the locals do not understand all of my customs. He poured a drink she suspected was beer into a long horn and handed it to her.

She looked at her brother as Thor handed him one as well. For a moment Ares looked surprised, but finally smiled and said, "Drink if you wish, Sister." He took a sip from his own horn and said, "But know that in Thor's mind that actually sipping from the horn means that you will not break the peace of the steading."

"Break the peace of the steading?" Diana asked.

"We won't fight in the house," Ares told her.

Raising an eyebrow, she sipped the rich amber liquid from the horn and found that it was not beer after all, but a rich smooth honey mead. "A very sensible custom if you ask me."

"Don't even bother with trying to introducing it to Father, or any of our brothers and sisters. We fight among ourselves in the Halls of Olympus as much as we fight in the mortal sphere."

Diana nodded, realizing he was correct. Looking at him puzzled, she said, "I'm surprised at the welcome I am receiving from you Ares."

"The fight with the heroes, or the lack of conflict between us?" he asked surprising her with his insight.

"Both, actually," she told him sipping the mead again. She looked at Thor and said, "This is quite good actually. My compliments to the brewer."

"I will be sure to inform Aegir that the denizens of Olympus approve of his brew. That will make him insufferably pleased with himself for at least a month. I am sure he is likely to send you a few barrels."

"Such a gift would not be unappreciated," Diana said with a smile.

Thor laughed loudly and said, "I like you, Daughter of Zeus! I like you a lot. Unlike your snarky brother, you have good taste and even better manners." Then standing back, he looked her up and down and said, "And you are a might sight prettier, and smell much better." Diana realized that there was only a hint of flirtation in the comment, and it was more of a greeting of one warrior to another, something that surprised her to find among the men of the North. "Now, how may I help the warrior who bested Ari here in battle?"

"He told you of this?" she asked surprised.

"Of course," he said. Then as if realizing something, he asked, "You don't yet know how to project yourself to other realities do you?"

"I've always felt that I had enough to accomplish in my own reality than to go about looking for more trouble," Diana said.

"A sensible attitude for a sensible warrior. But there is something to be said for the companionship of your peers, whether they be from your own family or not."

"Companionship?" Diana asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Not that," Thor said. "Although it is to be had if you wish it, but there are gatherings of us throughout the Omniverse. We recently all came together to watch a group of young godlings stomp a mud hole in several of the Meso-American gods who had become meddlesome."

"I believe the expression one used was 'stomp a mudhole in them and then kick it dry," Ares said with a smile. Then turning to his sister, he said, "By taking the mantle of War in your reality, you've stepped into a much larger omniverse, Diana. There are wonders, challenges, and dangers to be found in the spaces between realities."

"And there are those of us who lead the armies of our peoples who gather regularly to discuss the state of the divine across the omniverse. There is companionship to be found there."

"Mostly men, and mostly drinking I take it?" she asked.

Thor nodded and said, "Mostly, but we are not without our female companions as well. Your sister Athena as been known to join us, as has Freyja." He stopped and looked at her and said, "I'm afraid that you have the wrong impression of the others who might be warriors. We are quite varied. Hamunan, Kali, Durga, and Indra are known to stop by. It only gets tense when some of the Hosts of Shaddai show up. Michael was bat-shit crazy and we all tried to avoid him."

"That is until he managed to get on the bad side of one of the Omniverse's Patrons. The last I heard, what was left of his body was just the right amount of matter added to a universe to keep it from spiraling out of entropic existence and become a regenerating one," Ares said.

Thor nodded and lifted his horn to the air and said, "To the Patrons for ridding us of one of the most sanctimonious bastards in the omniverse!"

Diana did not know what to say so she simply looked down into her mead until they were finished. "I come seeking the children of Selene," she finally said.

Thor's eyes flashed with thunder and he asked seriously, "Just which children of Selene?"

"The youngest twins," Diana said.

Thor quaffed the last of his horn in a single draught, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, "I was afraid you were going to mean them."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"They have tied their orlog to the daughter of a Jotuness and one of Freyja's children, one of her feline factors. That is a triad of goddesses on whose good side I would rather stay."

"I don't understand," Diana asked. "I would think that a Norse god would not be afraid of a 'mere woman'."

Thor gave her a shocked look and said, "Look, I know it's a bit different between men and women with you Greeks, but we Norse fear only two things: My father, and our women. Skadi Thiazidottir is a woman who kicked in the gates of Asgard and demanded her just due for the loss of her father. And we gave it to her. Freyja is a master of all magics, and gets first choice of the warriors who become the Einherjar. I would cross neither woman without good reason."

"I'm not asking you to cross them, I simply want to speak with them," Diana said. "Why is it that you always think I want to fight?"

Thor and Ares looked at each other and then laughed. "I don't know, Diana," Ares said. "Maybe it's because you are a war goddess."

"So is he," she said nodding to Thor.

Thor chuckled and shook his head. "No. No, I'm not. First off our people don't do that. We don't divide ourselves into realms of responsibility. If we were to do so, you might be surprised to find that I'm not considered a war god. My father is. Tyr is. Freyja is. But to be honest about such classifications, I fall into the realms of guardian, storms, and fertility."

"Fertility?" she demanded in surprise. "Strange area of influence for a man."

"And that is why you are in the situation you are in, Sister," Ares said. "Of all the Amazons, you, and only you, are able to see past the prejudices of your gender, and that is only on occasion. Your mother, the other Amazons, never. They have proven that they are no longer in danger of becoming what they claim to hate, but have embraced it fully." He turned to Thor and much to Diana's surprise, said, "I'm asking you on our friendship beyond this reality to aid my sister, Diana. All you have to do is take her to Freyja or Skadi, and let them work it out between them."

Thor rubbed his beard and thought about it. Finally, the huge bear of a man shrugged and said, "There is no time like the present. But I warn you that we will have to walk the Bifrost Bridge. I may not cross it in my chariot for fear of it shattering."

"I am not afraid to walk," Diana told him.

"Good," he said with a smile. "Perhaps we should start in the sky then." Turning to Ares he asked, "You will handle things with the young Ms. Pryde?"

"What do you want me to do about Logan's claws?" her brother asked.

Thor stopped to think a moment. Raising his hammer in front of him, he concentrated for several moments and the runes carved in the hammer began to glow in a bright blue fire. After a few moments, the light died down and he said, "There, they and the school have been repaired. I'll leave the road outside to you."

Ares looked on him with awe and said, "I didn't know you could do that!"

Thor winked over at him and said, "A young true follower on another reality recently reminded me of something we all too easily forget. I'm a god. I can do whatever I set my mind to. I may not be as subtle as Freyja or my father, but magic is not outside of my abilities."

"A true follower?" Ares asked. "Oh how few and precious those are for us these days! You should do something nice for him."

"Yes, a true follower, and I did," Thor told him. "I gave him the power to break the curse of a Draugr and save his friend's life. Left the friend a werewolf though. Their other friend was a mooncat, and needed someone who could stand against him if things went wrong.4"

"And they call your father wise," Ares said with a smile.

"My father is more interested in warriors who are willing to sacrifice themselves to him to join us in Ragnarok, and in the worship of kings. The young Runemaster and I have always gotten along well. I feel closer to the common man than I do kings. And this young man had overcome a great many personal obstacles to join his family in worship true. He just had a few hard-won lessons to learn." Thor shrugged and said, "Such is the way among our people. Because we really don't break ourselves down into the god of this or that, we tend to have broader powers. There are some things each of us are better at, but in the end, we can all do what we desire, it just depends on how much effort we wish to put into it."

Diana listened to the interplay between the Norse god and her brother Ares. She found their friendship completely confounding. They competed with each other, they might even fight among themselves, but they seemed to actually have a friendship beyond the eyes of the mortals around them. She wondered if it was like this away from her Earth, out between the realities where the divine evidently strode in peace, if not exactly harmony.

"What about the game?" Ares asked.

Thor laughed and said, "We both know it's the same game that Tony shows in the mansion whenever you and I or I and your brother, Hercules are here together. He thinks he's being clever. To be honest, that man is more trouble than my father's blood-brother, Loki. Vikings win 25 to 16.5"

Ares laughed and nodded. Then turning to Diana, he said, "Be well sister. And give my compliments to our niece and nephew."

"Niece and Nephew?" Diana asked.

"Selene's twins. Father is Endymion's father. That makes him our brother, and the twins our nephews," Ares said.

Diana shook her head and said, "What does it say about our people when father tries to seduce a daughter and a son?"

"It means that mother has many reasons to be angry with him. Her problem though is she takes that anger out on the mortals who succumb to him." He shrugged and said, "Father has sired children on two of his sisters, my mother and Demeter, and on several mortal women, and your mother who is an Amazon. The problem is that if mother attacked the divine parents, she would start a god-war. So all she has left as a target are the mortals."

Diana felt her face flush at the thought of the incest that was so rampant in her family. Thor must have noticed and shook his head, "Do not be disturbed, young War Goddess. This is not unknown among many of the divine families. Although it is not a custom among the Aesir, it is a custom among the Vanir, a custom that brought us to war with them..." he paused a moment and thought, "...that and burning Freyja three times at the stake because Father and the others did not like her prophecies."

"Yet you settled your war and became one family?" Diana asked.

Thor laughed and said, "That's what families do, Diana. They fight among themselves, and they make peace." He pointed to the horn of mead she was holding, "Hence the ceremonial drinking from the horn. In the end though, we realized that the Jotuns were of a greater threat to us than we were to each other."

"Yet Skadi is a Jotun," Diana said.

"We, are descended from the Jotuns like you are descended from the Titans. At least the Aesir are. The Vanir had little conflict with the Jotuns until we arrived from the East. Some Jotuns we have a better relationship with than others. Much like Selene stood with your father in the Titanomachy. Skadi's claim against us for killing her father were valid. We paid the weirgild."

Diana took a deep breath, and handed Ares her horn. "If we are going to do this, how should we proceed?"

"From the sky," Thor said. "It's easier to summon the bridge in the clouds than it is on the ground where it tends to block traffic."

"Very well," Diana said as she followed him outside where he began to twirl his hammer, and then took off into the sky. As Diana rose to follow him, he called back to her, "Oh, and if the squirrel says anything to you, don't believe him. He's a liar and a gossipmonger!6"

1 DC v. Marvel #3 (by Ron Marz, Dan Jurgens and Joe Rubinstein)

2 Kingdom Come (by Mark Waid and Alex Ross)

3 Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice (Movie)

4 The Kindred: Mooncat (by Cobalt-Blue) Available as a Kindle e-book.

5 Actual score Sunday 11, September 2016.

6 Ratatoskr

7 DC Database Diana of Themyscira Prime Earth

(Author's note: If you don't like the way this battle turned out, go write your own. I've always felt that Marvel nerfed the hell out of Thor. Furthermore, if you read the actual descriptions of Diana as a Goddess, the only people in the Marvel Universe that stands a chance against her are Thor and Ares. And yes, that sword has been described as being able to shave the electrons off an atom, and even cut Superman in Kingdom Come. Furthermore, it relieved Doomsday of his arm in Dawn of Justice. And the battle between Diana and Storm in the merger storyline was bogus. First lightning doesn't work that way, and secondly, with Diana's reflexes, she could easily dodge it. Even Batman says that she's faster than Superman.7 So I don't really want to hear any complaints about the Goddess of War wiping up the floor with your favorite Marvel hero.)


	3. Chapter 3

Diana found the trip across the Rainbow Bridge to be a surreal experience. It was a glowing ribbon of color that wound through the clouds like a child's streamer. As they strode the bridge, it seemed that each step took them thousands of feet in the air, and after several moments, Diana recognized that it was spiraling around a great tree, each limb seeming to stretch into a different landscape beyond. There were scenes of snow-capped mountains, deep rich alpine valleys, rugged fjords, and in some cases rivers, darkness, a land of frozen glaciers, and one of hot volcanic fields.

"What am I seeing here?" she asked her guide.

Thor chuckled and said, "We are on but a small limb of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. From this bridge you may step off into any of the nine worlds, or should you be brave enough to travel beyond the gates of Asgard and past Niflheim, you will find entrances into other Earths, other realities, eventually even your own."

"And do your people explore them?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking, but not by traversing the bridge. Beyond a certain point the Frost Giants become too dangerous to continue on foot. Like your own family, we have found other ways to enter other realities."

"Such as the way I came to be here?" she asked.

Thor stopped and turned to look at her. "You have not been served very well by your brothers and sisters, Daughter of Hippolyta. You carry on your hip a method of opening a window into the space between spaces. From there you may go anywhere you wish. As a Goddess, you will always be able to home in on your own reality. Why no one has taught you this, I have no idea. Even Freyja's Feline Factor are taught to open the bridge to Folksvang and Sessrimner, her hall. Of course at least two of them have learned to open the bridge to anywhere they choose, and one, her son, is almost as skilled in magic as she, and may travel where he chooses."

He paused a moment seeming to consider his next words carefully. Finally, coming to a decision he said, "There is something you should know about the twins you seek."

"And that is?" Diana asked calmly.

"They have bound themselves to Freyja's son, and to the daughter of Skadi as surely as I am bound to my wife, Sif. They are bound not as simple husband and wife, but four hearts made whole into one. It was their will, and the will of their mothers, and the twins' father."

Diana surprised herself when she thought to ask, "And what of the other fathers?"

"Aerin's father died when the towers fell in New York. Nobody knows who fathered Leif, although I have my own theory."

"And that might be?" Diana asked.

Thor considered the question for a moment. Finally he asked, "Why did I call you Daughter of Hyppolyta?"

Confused, Diana shrugged and said, "As a way of acknowledging the importance of my mother?"

Thor gestured ahead of them that they should continue to walk while they talked. "In a way. I could have as easily called you Daughter of Zeus, but as you have pointed out, there are many sons and daughters of Zeus. But there is only one Daughter of Hippolyta. By calling you that, I'm asking you as the listener to think about what it means to be the daughter of the queen of the Amazons. Although not on the world we just left, I am often called Midgard's Warder, Giant-slayer, Husband of Sif, or even Odin's Son. We call these things kennings, from the root word ken which means to know. It asks the listener to stop and think about the role people, places, and objects play in the world around them."

Diana nodded, understanding what he was trying to say, but unsure of its purpose. "I understand that, but what does that have to do with the father of Freyja's son?"

"Freyja's kennings include "First Chooser of the Battleslain; that means she gets first choice of those who are bound for Valhall. Another is Keeper of Cats, as she has a love of cats. Yet a third is the Vanadis, which means that she is in many ways leader of the Vanir. But she is also known as the Weeping Van, or Od's wife."

"Who is Od?" Diana asked.

"Her husband, who has gone traveling throughout the Omniverse. She weeps because she misses him terribly. While he is gone, and she becomes lonely, she takes her comfort where she can find it. Freyja chooses her lovers as she would have them, and for her own reasons."

"And your people don't condemn her for this?" Diana was surprised to find a woman among the gods who could be unfaithful and not be charged with adultery.

As they continued to walk, Thor thought of her question, then shook his head and asked, "Why should they? Od is not there, is not likely to be there, so why condemn her for taking comfort where she can find it. It is something that is understood among the Aesir and Vanir. There are some rules for taking a lover, but the main one is that we all get along. We don't break the peace of the steading, and we don't talk about these things amongst outsiders. My own wife, Sif has a son not by me, Ullr, whom I love as one of my own." He blushed and said, "And I have fathered a child or two without my wife." He shrugged and said, "And of course although I am Odin's son, I am not Frigga's son, but Jord's."

Diana nodded her head slowly and deeply, trying to get back to the question she had asked earlier, "And your theory as to who the father of Leif is?" she asked.

Thor took a deep breath and said, "I am not so sure that Od is always so lost, or gone for so long. I think there are times that either he travels to her, or her to him. I think Leif is the result of one of those visits. As for exactly who Od is, I have another theory that I will not share."

Diana nodded and noticed that the farther along the bridge they went, Thor's hair and beard began to change from blond to a deep fiery red. Remembering a line from a movie that she and Clark (her Clark, not the new one) watched together, she smiled and asked, "Weren't you a blond back on Earth?"

He laughed and said, "Yes. But another of my kennings is Redbeard. My natural hair color is as red as fire. I used the blond locks to cover who I was originally, and it sort of stuck." Arriving at a small meadow outside the gates to a huge city, a tall man with ice blond hair and piercing blue eyes stood with a horn in one hand, the other resting on a sword. He was very handsome with fair skin. When he smiled at Thor, Diana noted that his teeth were as gold.

Nodding to him, Thor said Ver heil, Son of Nine Mothers. How are you this day?"

"Ver heil, Thor Odin's Son. I am well. How is it that you are bringing to our shores an Olympian these days?"

Thor laughed and said, "Heimdallr, this is Diana of Themyscira, War Goddess of the Greeks in one particular reality. She is new to her godhood and has questions for Freyja and Skadi. Diana of Themyscira, this is Heimdallr, the Son of Nine Mothers."

"Greetings, Heimdallr," she said as she studied him. He was nothing like what she'd seen in several recent movies. "Excuse me for saying so, but you are much different from the way they have portrayed you in the cinema."

"Mortals do many foolish things, Diana of Themyscira. One of them is the idea that all humans were created by one god, and that the appearances of our peoples can be interchanged in the name of false diversity. I am the father of the Nordic people. I appear as they are, not as some foolish mortal wishes to make me."

Thor laughed at her side and said, "As I appear different in that reality, so does Heimdallr. But in my case, it was my own choice. Since those movies, Heimdallr has forsworn travel to there. He now sends a projection like you were taught."

Heimdallr said nothing but turned his gaze back to the bridge. Behind him the door to the land of Asgard opened to allow them entry. When they were several yards away, Diana looked at Thor and said softly, "I didn't mean to offend him."

"There is no need to whisper," Thor told her. "Or more accurately, there is no use in whispering. Heimdallr can hear the grass growing. Those movies are a sore spot for many of our followers, and for Heimdallr."

"Why would he be upset by his portrayal in a movie?" she asked.

"Because, as he said, he is the father of the Nordic people. It is from him that the humans of the North began."

"I thought Odin created your humans," Diana said.

"He did. But then, Heimdallr as Rig, visited three families and fathered three sons on their wives. From them, the Nordic people are descended. It is one of the reasons that we refuse to allow our worship to die. These particular children are our descendants, our family. In a very real way, our followers worship their ancestors. We appreciate this. It is why they refer to us as 'the Elderkin'."

Again Diana was surprised at the sophistication in the gods of the North and even their followers. "I can see where that might upset him, and them. It would be as if someone were to portray my father as an Amerind."

"Exactly," Thor said. "Political correctness is a form of thought control. Be who you are. Your deeds define you, your family defines you. Everything else, as the humans would say, is bullshit." Then turning to the city around them, he said, "Welcome to Asgard."

Diana turned to look at what looked like any number of modern cities found in Northern Europe. There was a touch of the ancient, of the modern, and of the future to it. Tall fair peopled walked the streets, many armed with ancient axes and swords, as whisper quiet automobiles traversed the roads. Great fountains sprayed water in the center of parks, with statues all around. Diana noticed that some of the locals were sporting pointed ears.

Perceiving her noticing them, Thor said, "Alfar from Vanaheim. We will be traveling there to Folksvang."

"And how will we get there?" Diana asked.

"You can still fly, can you not?" he asked.

She nodded and said, "I see no reason why not. But if we could fly, why did we come through the gate on foot?"

"Because I'd rather not get shot down by the city's defenses," he told her. "They wouldn't kill us, but they would hurt. Now that Heimdallr knows we are here, we're free to move about as we wish." Taking his hammer from his belt, he began to spin it, and then threw it, letting the tether pull him along with it.

Smiling, Diana took to the air and followed him. In a matter of moments they had cleared the city and the mountains, and were on a broad field. Below them, a huge mansion sat in the middle of what looked like a war-camp. Soldiers, both men and women, fought fiercely with each other as they trained for what Diana suspected was the Ragnarok she had heard lay heavily on the hearts of the Norse people. Landing near the mansion, Diana saw a tall blonde woman wearing armor and carrying a sword, shield and spear strode up to them. "Ver Heil, Odin's Son! What brings you to Sessrimner?"

"Brunhilde, this is Diana of Themyscira, War Goddess of the Amazons, Diana, this is Brunhilde, head Valkyrie in charge of Folksvang for Freyja," Thor introduced them.

Diana nodded to the other woman and said, "Hello."

The woman bowed deeply and said, "It is my honor. I have met only a few Olympians. It would seem that all are as fair as the dawn."

Diana smiled and said, "Thank you."

Standing Brunhilde said, "I will go tell my mistress that you are here. I'm sure she will be glad to see you. There has been some trouble on several of the Earths she monitors, and we've had bad news from the Council of the Five Galaxies."

"What?" Thor asked. "I've been away."

"We know," Brunhilde said. "Four Earths have been destroyed by one of the Hosts of Shaddai. The one known as Abriel. The Patrons have interfered to save the populations, but there is a new conflict brewing between the Hosts and the Patrons. It will not end well, I'm afraid."

Thor simply nodded and said, "For the most part, I'm aware of those developments." He turned to Diana, "That was why Ares was at the Avenger's Mansion. He and I went out of our way to preserve one of those Earths, and Abriel managed to destroy it anyway. That is why the world you need to visit is sealed from us, to keep it from being destroyed as well."

"Who can seal a world from a god?" Diana asked.

"The Patrons of the Omniverse," a melodious voice that reminded Diana of chimes on the wind said from the hall. Turning she saw a tall, blond woman with pointed ears. She was wearing a simple tunic, high boots, and a broad belt. A sword hung from her hips, and there was a huge beautiful necklace nestled in her bosom. "I am Freyja, welcome to my hall, War Goddess of the Amazons."

Diana nodded and said, "Thank you."

Turning to Thor the blonde said, "Thank you for bringing her here."

"It was safer than taking her to Skadi's Hall," Thor replied.

"For the mountains at least," Brunhilde commented with a smile.

"I don't understand," Diana replied.

Freyja pointed toward the mountains in the distance. "There, in those mountains is where my stepmother, Skadi resides. There are giants in those mountains. When the Thunderer goes into the giants' territory there is always a fight. When he fights giants, mountain ranges are smashed. It's best we keep him from there." Diana got the feeling that the woman was teasing her Aesir companion.

But Brunhilde shook her head and said, "It's not hyperbole. Thor has destroyed mountain ranges with a single blow of Mjolnir. There is little in the Omniverse that can stand against it."

Diana turned to Thor and said, "Hence you tone down your power when you visit the Avengers' Earth?"

"Exactly," Thor said. Ares is one of the few who could stand against me, and he plays along because it is at least entertaining."

"Well, thank you for being my guide, Thunderer," Diana said offering her hand.

"I would have done it, even if Ares hadn't invoked our friendship. But I think he is playing his own game back with the Avengers. I will wait and see what it is," Thor replied. "Be well War Goddess of the Amazons. I look forward to your steps into the greater realities of the Omniverse. If you have any questions and concerns, know that Thor of Asgard considers you friend." He took the hand in a warrior's grasp and nodded to her. After releasing the handshake, he said, "Be well Amazon. I now go to speak with my father, and then perhaps to Aegir." Twirling the hammer he carried, he once again took off into the sky.

"Please join me for some refreshments, Diana of Themyscira," Freyja said gesturing toward the entrance of the great hall.

"Thank you," Diana said. "But please call me Diana."

"Not to be confused with your sister's Roman name?" Freyja asked smiling.

"I guess that could be confusing. But as Artemis is not here, let's try and keep it simple," Diana replied.

"Very well," Freyja said. "Please refer to me as Freyja."

As they entered the room, servants of all kinds scattered around them. One man brought a large tray with a pitcher, two drinking horns and a towel. Freyja took the pitcher and poured the contents into the horn and handed it to her. "Drink and know the peace of my steading."

Remembering what Ares had told her, Diana took the horn and sipped the rich amber liquid. It was sweet, and fiery, and burned a path to her stomach." She smiled and said, "Thank you." Then as she handed the horn back to her hostess the other woman handed her the towel to wipe her mouth.

"Drinking from a horn is an acquired skill," Freyja said. "It is best to keep the point of the horn facing downward as it keeps you from getting splashed."

Taking the towel, she dabbed the sides of her face and handed it back to the blonde who took it and said, "Now that the rituals of hospitality have been met, how might I assist you, Diana?"

Diana frowned slightly and said, "I am trying to restore someone who has been turned to stone, and then had their form crumbled to dust. I am told that Selene's twins have done such a thing. Furthermore, I've been told that those twins are involved romantically with your son and Skadi's daughter."

Diana watched as the other woman's blue eyes became just a bit colder. "They have, and they are," she said. "Corbin's magic is among the most unusual in all of the omniverse. It works in a way that even we gods do not understand. The Sovereign Mage of their world has repeatedly expressed her dismay at how it defies the rules of magic."

"Is it possible for me to speak with them, to ask for their aid?" she said.

Freyja gestured toward a hallway and said, "Come into my library and we'll discuss the matter."

Diana nodded and followed her down a long hallway of highly polished oaken panels. Entering another room about half way down, Diana found herself in a large room that reminded her of a cross between her mother's sitting room, and Bruce's library at Wayne Manor. There was even a desk with a computer near a set of French-style windows that looked out over the plains and toward the mountains in the distance. "Thank you," Diana said as she entered.

Closing the door behind her, Freyja said, "You will understand that we are rather protective of our children. Where they are, we cannot go, not in our full form. We must use an avatar."

"Why is that?" Diana asked.

"You heard Brunhilde tell the Thunderer about the attack on four Earths. One of those was the world in which Aerin, Corbin and Lorna were born. We agreed to have our children sent to a fifth world to work in tandem with other heroes to insure that never happens again. Part of that agreement meant that the Patrons sealed the world from divine interference. We may send dreams, we may send avatars with a fraction of our power, but we may not go there lest we be trapped."

"Could you not simply summon them here?" Diana asked them.

Freyja smiled and said, "I can ask my son to come here. I can even ask that he bring his family. But should I summon him here as you suggest, then I would be abrogating my agreement with the Patrons as well as it would be considered extremely rude. Not to mention summoning Aerin or the rest of his family would be an intrusion on Selene and Skadi. It is best to go there, and request their aid. They can come here, and from here, you can proceed to your world. But I believe you will be getting more than just the twins."

"Leif and Aerin?" Diana asked.

"Possibly, but I doubt it. The children are a bit wiser than most give them credit. They've done great and powerful things in both of their worlds. I suspect that they will seek outside aid to watch over their husband and wife." She smiled enigmatically, and added, "And that could prove interesting on far more levels than you realize."

Diana nodded and said, "There is another matter as well."

"Which is?" Freyja asked.

"Can I carry things with me from here to that world?" Diana asked. "For aid in finding Thor I agreed to deliver a package to Hunter Daire of Feyhold."

Freyja winced in a familiar expression of awkwardness. "Yes, taking the package is far easier than delivering it."

"How is that?" Diana asked.

"It means gaining entrance to Winterglen at Feyhold and the Courts Immortal. There have been some political maneuvering there as well, and Riolprion Hunter Daire heir to both the Daeoni Star Throne and the Fey Winter Throne has become simply Grand Prion Hunter Daire heir to the Fey Throne. The Unseelie are not going to be happy with the attention of any deities other than their own and a very few exceptions that have been earned through association on their heir."

Diana nodded and said, "A promise is a promise."

Freyja smiled and chuckled, "Thor is already influencing you. He would say much the same. When I tell Leif we are coming to visit, I will tell him of your request. Possibly something can be arranged through back-channels."

Diana was beginning to realize that there was far more to being a War Goddess than she ever expected. There were intricacies of the divine that were far beyond her previous understanding. It made her choice to find a way to restore her mother that more important. She could not lead the Amazons and deal with divine intrigue, while being Wonder Woman all at the same time. Perhaps she was going to have to consider using the avatar more than just this time. "That would be appreciated."

Freyja smiled at her and said, "Wait here. I will go and speak to Leif." She looked around and said, "Please feel free to browse. I have an extensive library on almost any subject." Again Diana found herself surprised by the gods of the North.

It was nearly two hours later when Freyja returned. She frowned at Diana and said, "I'm sorry. Sometimes it can be difficult to pierce the barrier, and then I have to find a time when such an action won't draw unwanted attention. In his other identity, my son is a Professor of archaeology and anthropology. Manifesting an avatar in the middle of a lecture hall would not do his career prospects much good."

Nodding, Diana said, "Several of my friends maintain a secret identity. I understand."

"I'm glad you do," Freyja replied. "I've explained part of the situation to him. I told him you would fill in the details when we arrive. He told me that he would ask Night-Hunter to join them."

"When do we leave?" Diana asked.

"Well, leave isn't exactly the description I would use, but he said that they should have everyone gathered in about two hours." Freyja sighed and said, "I'm afraid that you will be meeting with a few more people than just my son and his family. Leif made it clear that in no uncertain terms that this was something that would have to be discussed among the other teams. And that Aerin and the twins were going to inform their mothers and ask them to join us. They've only recently settled in to that reality, and they take their responsibility for protecting it very seriously."

Diana nodded and said, "My mission is no secret."

"I didn't think it was," Freyja said. "But I suspect will we have close to a dozen other heroes there." With a smile she added, "You know, I hadn't thought about it until you arrived, but of the twenty-seven heroes on that world eighteen have a divine origin, and if you stretch the definition, that number could reach twenty."

"What a strange world," Diana said. "There are only twenty-seven metahumans on it?"

Freyja nodded and said, "For now. That number will increase as the quantum fields of the world settle into place."

"I don't understand." It was a sentence Diana was finding herself saying more and more on this mission.

Freyja shook her head and said, "It's not really important. If you want to talk about it after your mother has been returned, come and join me. We'll have dinner and talk of such things. Someone has seriously neglected your education. I think that might be what Ares is trying to rectify."

Diana shook her head and said, "It seems strange to think of Ares as being helpful."

"You don't give him enough credit," Freyja said. "He takes his role as War very seriously, and not just the mindless chaos of battle, but the politics of it as well. I once saw him out-maneuver not only your sister, Athena, but Thor as well to gain data your father asked him to get."

"Please don't take this wrong, but I get the feeling that out-maneuvering Thor may not be that difficult."

Freyja shook her head and told her, "Never make that mistake. Thor may be a hot-head, he may be honest to a fault, but he's a lot smarter than most people, including his father give him credit. He has protected our holdings across the Omniverse for eternities, and is very good at it. His friendship with Ares, Hunaman, Horus and several others have allowed all of them to keep our worship alive across the omniverse. I think part of your problem is that you have only ever seen one small facet of the greater gem that is your family. And that gem is but one stone set in a larger piece of jewelry. You really must join me at some point. Leave your avatar on your Earth and come join me striding the cosmos for a while. Learn what it means to be a goddess."

Diana considered her words. "Let me get things straightened out at home, and I will do that."

Freyja smiled and said, "Good, I need a wing sister when we go to the council meetings. Kali is a bit standoffish, and Athena can be a bore. Morrigan is fun, but as Leif once described her, her personality can turn on a dime and give you nine cents change." Freyja grinned and said, "I really would have rather he not ended up in Alabama when I first sent him to Earth. He picked up the strangest expressions there, and an unhealthy interest in something called furball. But that was where the twins were, and that was where he needed to be for that mission."

Diana laughed and said, "I think that you are going to be an interesting companion, Freyja."

"I certainly hope so," Freyja replied with a grin.


	4. Chapter 4

The well appointed room was filled with people. Diana felt like she was at a League gathering with the number of brightly colored costumes and outfits that were there. It seemed that each of the six teams working to protect the reality had sent a representative. There was a short white-haired woman wearing blue and white that had been introduced as the Sovereign Mage, Avalon. There was a short black-haired young man dressed in dark blues and golds obviously another mage, who went by the name Mystic. A tall woman with blonde hair and dressed in a white and blue lightly armored bodysuit by the name of Phantasia, there was a young brown-haired young man of only about sixteen that Diana was convinced was a vampire. He went by the name of Jimmy. There was a tiny young man who stood only about three feet tall and had webbing between his fingers. He was dressed in aquas, white, and black. Diana smiled at the memory of the strength she'd felt in his tiny hand as he'd been introduced as Aquaean. There was a tall young man standing in the corner in a black costume with gold trim and a white cape. Even through the mask he wore, he reminded her so much of Clark when they'd first met that it hurt. He'd been introduced as Pinnacle. Standing next to Aquaean was the most extraordinary person she'd ever met. Diana couldn't even fathom the concept behind someone that was male and female simultaneously. A black cat's tail snaked from behind the young Daeoni's body, and matching ears sat upon a head full of raven hair. This was Night-Hunter, or Grand Prion Hunter Daire to whom she was supposed to give the envelope and message. The hero was not physically very big, probably just around five foot, so Diana felt like she was towering any time she drew near to the Daeoni.

Finally were the four that made up the Wrought. Leif had turned out to be a tall young man with white blonde hair and a set of white tiger's ears and tail. Unlike the Daeoni however, he only had one set of ears. Aerin was a young woman, nearly as tall as Leif with red hair, the edges of which were white. And then the twins, technically as the grandchildren of Zeus, they were her niece and nephew. Both were on the short side with raven hair and dark eyes. Their skin had the same slightly olive tone to it as her own. Aerin stood with a tall woman with blonde hair and a warrior's build, her mother, Skadi. Next to Leif stood Freyja, and the dark haired form of Selene stood with her own children.

It was Leif who spoke to gain the room's attention. "Thank you all for coming. As you can see, a rather extraordinary event has occurred. We've actually been visited by of all people, Wonder Woman."

Diana overheard Pinnacle whisper quietly to himself, "Too bad Genesis wasn't sent to this. They look so much alike that it's frightening."

Leif turned to her and said, "You will have to excuse us, in this world, and most of the others where we originated, you are a comic hero of immense popularity."

"Much as the Avengers are in my world," she said simply.

"Yeah, but we got both of you as comics," Aquaean said.

"As I was saying," Leif broke in before the conversation could get off track. "Wonder Woman has come here seeking Magelight and Lifeforce's aid in restoring her mother to life and to the throne of Themyscira. That would mean they would have to travel to her world, and that is something we thought we'd better clear with the rest of you before it happened."

"Exactly what will this entail?" Avalon asked.

"My mother was turned into a clay statue by Hera for daring to have an affair with my father, Zeus. The statue later crumbled to dust, but we've preserved that. I am told that Magelight and Lifeforce may be able to help return her, that they have done something similar in the past for their own father," Diana said as she wondered how she could have gone all these days and not found out the twins' code names.

"It has been my experience that Hera does not like to have her decrees over ruled. Such an action might put them into danger. They've already irritated their grandfather by restoring their father. Further irritating the gods of Olympus by undoing one of Hera's decrees could make them a target. This is something they should carefully consider." Avalon turned to look at the four heroes gathered and said, "Because of your mother's role in the Titanomachy, Heliopolis is closed off to you. You have already irritated Zeus. Do you really want to irritate Hera as well? That would leave this the only safe reality to which you can retreat, and the Patrons prohibition against the gods coming here may not last forever."

"Not only that," the young man named Jimmy said. "But, by going there, you're putting yourselves directly in their line of fire." Then blushing and looking around to see if he'd spoken out of line, he shrugged and added, "Just sayin'."

"James is correct," Avalon said. "It will make it easier for them to reach you."

"Corbin turned to his mother and asked, "Just how ticked off is Grandfather with us?"

"Zeus has a long memory and a quick temper. But he can also, just as quickly turn from anger, to joy, and then back again. But once he places a curse, he rarely lifts it, and then only at a price," Selene said bitterly. "Just remember, don't ever ask him for anything. He will twist it. It does no good to ask for forgiveness if you are not one of his favorites, and permission is seldom granted."

"Sounds like a sociopath to me," Pinnacle said.

"I would not disagree with that diagnosis, but I am prejudiced in this issue. I do not want my children to put themselves in the path of either Zeus or Hera, at least not without someone to watch their back."

"That's what we're for," Leif said grimly as he put a protective arm around Corbin and Lorna. Next to them, Aerin's eyes turned to ice. Diana got the feeling that there was more to this than simply two married couples.

"Absolutely not!" Freyja said. "You would start a god war."

Leif crossed his arms across his chest and said, "Then they don't go."

"What if I could guarantee their safety?" Diana asked.

"You are new to your power, my niece. You could no more stand against Zeus than you could Hyperion. Furthermore, you _won't_ stand against Hera. We all know that," Selene told her.

"I'll go," Pinnacle said surprising everyone in the room.

Diana raised an eyebrow and asked, "You would stand against not one, but two gods?"

He looked at Lorna and Corbin and said, "They are needed here. I have no problem with them helping you, but I will make sure they come back safely."

"Could you stand against me?" Diana asked him.

The look he gave her was astounding. Nodding he said, "As you are currently, easily. As a full goddess with all of her powers, it might be an interesting fight, but I think I could eventually overcome you." He grinned and said, "I've taken a five megaton nuke before. Didn't care for the week and a half of decontamination, but that, and my pajamas were the only casualty."

Every eye in the room turned to look at him in surprise. "Really?" Freyja asked looking him up and down carefully. She seemed to notice something and then frowned. "I believe you."

"I will go," Hunter Daire added in a voice that was somewhere between male and female.

"What will your grandmother say?" Avalon asked.

"That I am being foolish, but Daeoni matrix magic may be of some use in unraveling this conundrum. Between that and Corbin's unique form of magic, I think we might be able to help."

"You will excuse me, but I don't know either of you well enough to place into your care my wife and my husband," Leif said.

"I would offer to vouch for Night-Hunter," the small form of Aquaean said, "but you don't know me well enough either." He looked at Leif and asked, "Is there anybody here you trust enough to advise you?"

Leif nodded and said, "Avalon, Mother, the Snow Ase, and the Titaness of the Moon." His voice was as definitive as it was formal.

"Are you about to go all Anglo-Saxon on us?" Aquaean asked with a grin.

Leif shot him a cold look and then smiled, "My voice is not open to discussion. I'm afraid you would not like it if I were to set it completely free. My mother's people shattered the walls of Asgard with their voices alone."

Leif and Corbin looked at each other worriedly. Corbin said, "We'd better get this settled, because when Leif gets like this, there's no reasoning with him."

"I will vouch for Night-Hunter. Xe has fought alongside my brother-in-law honorably, effectively, and impressively. With one caveat."

"Just one?" Night-Hunter asked sarcastically.

"And that is?" Diana asked.

"Should you end up in combat, do not under any circumstances allow xyr to drink the blood of xyr enemies. Blood filled with fight or flight hormones has an unfortunate effect on xyr personality."

"You had to go bring that up, didn't you?" Night-Hunter asked.

"You are a vampire?" Diana asked surprised.

Night-Hunter sighed and said, "I am many things. I have attributes of all the original tribes of my people. One of those tribes is Shadow tribe, or as we say Shadowtyri. We are living vampires. We must ingest blood to be able to digest mortal food."

Diana looked at the strange being more closely and studied her in the way Mark had taught her. She was surprised to see that not only was the Daeoni not human, but was not exactly mortal either. No wonder Mark had been heartbroken to end the relationship. Turning to Leif, she asked, "Is that enough for you?"

Leif looked at the Daeoni and then to his mother who also nodded. "Night-Hunter is one."

Skadi rubbed her chin a moment and then walked over to Pinnacle. She studied the black-clad hero up and down. Finally, she smiled and said, "Physically, I would not wish to have him on the other side of a fight from me. I know little of his personality, though."

"There's an easy way to determine that question," Aquaean said with a smile.

"And how is that, Aquaean?" Avalon asked.

Aquaean chuckled and looked first to Jimmy and then to Corbin. When both men smiled Diana knew that they had reached the same obvious conclusion that was eluding everyone else. He asked Corbin, "Do you want to tell them or do you want me to?"

Corbin smiled and said, "Why don't we let Jimmy do it?"

Aquaean turned his small frame to the young man and said, "Mister Donovan?"

"The lasso?" Jimmy said in a tone that spoke volumes of how obvious he thought the question was.

"What lasso?" Lorna asked, "...oh, _that_ lasso."

Diana looked down at her hip where the Lasso of Truth sat. Then looking at Pinnacle she asked, "Will you allow me to place this on you?"

"I don't understand," Pinnacle said.

"They didn't have Wonder Woman where he came from," Corbin commented. Then looking at Pinnacle he said, "The lasso compels you to tell the truth."

"I do that anyway," Pinnacle told them. "I have no objection."

Stepping closer to him, Diana noted that he smelled like sunshine and fresh air, a smell that she'd missed since the death of her Clark. Placing the golden braids of the lasso over his head she looked back to Leif and asked, "Ask what question you would."

Leif nodded and said, "Do you think you have the power to protect Corbin and Lorna?"

"I know I have the power," Pinnacle said.

"How do you know?" Leif asked.

"I just do. Deep in the fiber of my being, I know," Pinnacle said.

"Will you protect them?" Leif asked.

"With my life," he said flatly.

"Why?" Leif asked.

"Because it's the right thing to do." His voice, his confidence, his tone, sent a shiver down Diana's spine. It was like a shade from Hades.

"Who are you?" Diana asked.

"Pinnacle," he answered.

"What are you?" she asked.

"A fusion of alien and human genetics created to protect the United Allied States from the Nazi ubermensch on my world. I've been told that my sister and I are the last of our race," he answered.

"Enough," Diana said, not wanting to hear any more. Taking the rope from around him, she said, "I believe he can protect them."

Her reaction was not lost on the others. What has you disturbed, Wonder Woman?" Lorna demanded.

She looked first at the young woman who was part of the hope to save her mother and then back to the young man who had just been answering their questions. "He reminds me of someone I knew. Someone with whom I was very close. Someone who died."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Pinnacle said putting a strong hand on her shoulder. "But I am not him."

Diana nodded and said, "I know."

"Does that meet your criteria?" she turned to Leif and asked.

"Yes," Leif said. Diana got the impression that the young man felt he had some kind of advantage. She felt it best to let him decide when and where to use it.

"So we're basically taking four of our heavy hitters and sending them to a world where Doomsday, Zod, Black Adam, and Darkseid exist?" Jimmy asked.

"You don't have to put it that way," Lorna complained.

"I'm only making sure you know what you're getting into," Jimmy said quietly.

"I think Excelsior and Witchwing can pick up the slack left by Pinnacle and myself," Night-Hunter said. "For a short time at least."

Aquaean raised an eyebrow at the Daeoni in a perfect imitation of a character Diana had occasionally seen on television. "You _would_ name them."

"I said they could fill the void, Sean. I did not say that I was going to try and take them from you," Night-Hunter replied.

"There are two more issues with which to deal," Diana said.

"And they are?" Lorna asked.

"I'd say that one of them is the prohibition of men being on Themyscira," Corbin said.

Diana nodded and replied, "My sisters do not care for men on our island and consider it ill-luck when a man sets foot on our shores."

Pinnacle rose a foot off the ground and crossed his arms in front of him. "Will this suffice?"

"It has worked for Superman," she told him.

"Corbin is not mortal. As the son of a titan and grandson of Zeus, he qualifies as both a Titan and as an Olympian. I believe your sisters allows those."

Diana nodded and said, "Yes."

"That just leaves me," Night-Hunter said. "Does the prohibition apply to someone who is both?"

"I don't believe so," Diana said. "And to be honest, it's not a prohibition as much as it's a dislike."

The Daeoni nodded to her (Diana found that she was more comfortable in thinking of this being as a she, than as both) head, and said, "Then we won't worry about it." Then gesturing to her extra ears and tail and asked, "Is this going to be a problem?"

"Only if you run into Cheetah," Aquaean said with a smile.

The Daeoni gave her friend a strange look and asked, "Cheetah?"

"Barbara Ann Minerva," Aquaean said. "A were-cheetah who has several problems."

Night-Hunter smiled and said, "I've dealt with werecats before."

"Quite effectively too," Avalon replied.

"It is not likely that Cheetah will be on Themyscira," Diana said. "I believe our most pressing opposition will be my father, Hera, and my own sisters."

"Have you considered what you will do if Hades doesn't release your mother's soul?" Lorna asked. "If need be, Corbin can draw her back from the underworld, but it would be painful for her, and it might irritate yet another of our family."

"Mother's soul walks Themyscira. It has not passed to the underworld," Diana told her. "At least it had not when I left."

"So, exactly how are we going to do this?" Corbin asked. "I would prefer not to play things by ear. I also would like to know which books I'm going to need."

"Books?" Diana asked.

Shaking her head, Avalon replied, "Don't ask. Let's just say Magelight's magic doesn't fit the parameters of any magic known in the real world."

"I don't understand," Diana replied.

"Don't worry about it," Lorna said. "If you are a mage, it will irritate you. If you're not, you're likely to put your foot in your mouth. My brother does what he does, the way he does it, and we've learned not to question that."

"Well, as to his question," Diana said.

"I'm right here, you know," Corbin said.

"I'm sorry?" Diana asked.

"You and my sister are carrying on a conversation about me, not with me," he told her. Next to him, Leif raised and eyebrow, and behind him, Selene smiled largely.

"I'm sorry," Diana told him. "As to _your_ question, I assume the plan is to open a portal to Sessrimner, and then from there to my reality, preferably over Themyscira. We go to the palace, collect my mother's dust, and you do what you need to do."

"And the Amazons will allow this?" Pinnacle asked surprising Diana with his insight.

"I am their Queen," she said.

"It's never that easy," Night-Hunter said. "Trust me, when politics are involved, it's never that easy."

"Well, it sounds like the beginning of a plan. You say your mother was turned to clay and the statue crumbled?" Corbin asked.

Diana nodded and said, "Yes, essentially so."

He shook his head and sighed for a moment. "Do you perhaps have a lock of her hair?"

"Why?" Diana asked.

"It might be easier to regrow her body from cells we already have, and then put her spirit in that. Clay to flesh is actually easier than stone to flesh, but it's still difficult if a deity is involved."

"I believe I can get one," Diana said. "I'm sure there is one on her brush."

"Are you sure about this Corbin?" his family asked in unison.

"Why does this idea worry the others?" Diana asked.

"Two reasons," Lorna said. "The first is that it ties his soul to the person he is bringing back. They will live at least as long as he does. Since your mother is an immortal, that's not really a problem."

"And the other problem?" Diana asked.

"It's very painful, difficult, and taxing on him," Lorna said. "The last time he did it, it took several months to recover."

"Part of that was because we went into battle in the Dragon War almost immediately," 1 Corbin pointed out. He looked over at Diana and added, "It will also mean that some of your mother's memories will linger with me. The stronger the memory, the stronger the connection."

"Can we not simply do the spell?" Diana asked worriedly.

"Whether Lorna grows her a new body from a cell, or I recreate her body from the clay, I will still have to bring her spirit into the body. And as you've made clear, your mother is a warrior trained, and that means she's likely to fight me even harder."

Diana nodded realizing that this young man was going to have to become intimate with her mother on a level that transcended any physicality. She was not sure her mother would be happy with that, and was likely to put up a fight. Hippolyta's will was formidable as it was. Finally, sighing, she said, "Let's plan for either contingency."

Corbin nodded and said, "Very well. I need to gather some things for the spells. It'll take me a little while. In the meantime, please make yourself comfortable." He then turned to head up the stairs of the large home.

"Wait, I'll help you," Leif said and followed him.

Corbin stopped for a moment, and something seemed to pass between the men before Corbin shrugged and said, "Come on."

Selene stepped forward to her and said, "A word."

"Yes?" Diana asked.

"Outside on the patio, please," the avatar of the titaness said as she walked down a long hall.

Diana followed the woman who was essentially her aunt and waited until they were outside under the full moon. Diana found that to be rather appropriate. "Yes?" she asked as she closed the door behind them.

"This is not going to end well, Diana," she said.

"Why?" Diana asked.

"Because when Corbin drags Hippolyta's soul back to her body, he's going to find out about the Sons of Themyscira. What he knows, Lorna knows. They are likely to take action, and it is very likely that the Daeoni too will join. If that happens, then you may lose several sister Amazons, and maybe even a few divine family members."

"Is the Daeoni really that dangerous?" Diana asked.

"Xe is at least as dangerous as my children," Selene replied. "And xyr magic _can_ affect the gods."

"I am not happy with my sisters about the Sons of Themyscira, and I do not believe that justice was served in any way as far as they were concerned," Diana replied. "But what is done is done, and neither I nor the gods can change that. Hades will not yield their souls to me or any other. He considers it just retribution for my not marrying him."2

"What has been done can be undone by that particular trio. You will be treading on very, very unstable earth where this is concerned. I do not begrudge you your mother, and I do not consider you a foe. But you should know this, I and the other two goddesses will protect each other's children."

"So if Zeus or Hera acts against Corbin and Lorna, we could end up with that god war?" Diana asked.

"Possibly, or something far worse. Freyja's magic is at least as powerful as Hecate's and Circe's and she did not tell you everything about her spheres of influence."

"I was told the Norse don't have sphere's of influence," Diana said.

"They don't," Selene replied. "But Freyja is known for several things at which she is very good. Those include magic, necromancy, battle, and cats."

"What is it with all the cat themed heroes here?"

Selene laughed and said, "Oh this is just a small number of them. Aquaean's teammate has cat abilities, Leif, and Avalon's husband, Runeclaw are both magecats. That means they are cat shifters who unlike any other shifter can use magic in any form they take. There is of course Night-Hunter, and then Mystic's teammate, Shadowclaw. The Patrons put a lot of cats on this world. I'm still not sure why myself, but they did. But be aware that if she chose to, Freyja could raise every dead Amazon over the last few millennia and send them after you, your friends, and the gods themselves. And what they become when she raises them is something you do not want to face."

"I will consider myself warned," Diana said beginning to lose patience. "You have my word as an Amazon that I will protect your children."

Selene stared at her for a few moments before saying, "Coming from any other Amazon, I would consider that a worthless promise, but coming from you, I know it is true."

Diana could not believe she was questioning the honor of the Amazons. "That is hardly fair."

"Tell that to the Sons of Themyscira. Tell that to the men who fathered them and then were murdered. Tell that to their wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters to whom they did not return."

Diana felt her hands clench at her sides, but she realized it was true. Finally bowing her head, she said, "My sisters have much for which to atone. I will see that it is done."

"Good," Selene said as she pushed past her and headed into the house. "I'm going to say farewell to my children and give them my blessings."

"Would you ask the Daeoni to step out here?" Diana asked.

"Why?" Selene stopped and asked without turning around.

"Because I have something for her from the grandson of Hyperion," Diana said.

Selene nodded seeming to understand the relationship. "I will send her out." She then disappeared into the house.

Diana stared up at the full moon as it hung over San Francisco and wondered how her life had suddenly become so complicated. The cold white orb for which she was named had no answers for her, no comfort for her troubled soul. Damn she missed Clark—her Clark. She even found herself missing Bruce, and Barry. Hell, right now, she even missed Guy Gardner. Before her mind could unravel the ridiculousness of that thought, the door opened and the young Daeoni stepped out on the patio with her. "You wanted to see me?" the strange being asked in Ancient Greek.

Surprised, Diana turned around and said, "I had no idea you could speak such a language."

Hunter smiled revealing her sharp fangs and said, "I speak many languages and have many skills. My parents made sure that I was capable enough to handle myself in as many worlds as I choose."

"As many worlds as you choose?" Diana asked.

"I'm a world walker, I can go to any time or any reality I decide," she said.

Diana nodded and asked, "May I ask a personal question?"

"You may ask," Hunter replied. "I may choose not to answer."

"Fair enough," Diana replied. "May I ask why you have not traveled to Heliopolis?"

Her question hit the young woman who barely came up to Diana's rib cage like a freight train. Her blue eyes hardened and she said, "I do not go to places I am unwelcome if I can avoid it. That is unless I'm looking for a fight."

"Fair enough," Diana replied. "I am sorry for asking." She reached into her bracer and pulled out the envelope. "Mark asked me to give you this and a message."

The Daeoni stood stock still, staring at the envelop as if it were a deadly snake. Without taking her eyes off the elegant script on the front, she asked, "What message."

"That he's sorry," Diana replied.

Hunter nodded her head and reached out to take the envelope. "He has nothing for which to be sorry. Eventually my family or his would have pulled us apart." She opened the envelop and a beautiful ring of gold with a blood red ruby inset in it fell into her hand. Putting that into a pocket concealed somewhere in her outfit, she unfolded the letter and began reading.

Diana felt that it was best to give the youngling her privacy so she stepped back into the house where the other heroes were discussing the situation. It was Avalon who came up to her and said, "That might not have been the best of times to give xyr that letter."

"A promise is a promise," Diana replied.

"You sound like my husband," Avalon told. The short woman looked up at her and Diana briefly wondered if all the powered women from these worlds were either very small or very large. The only female that she'd met up to this point that was of normal stature was Lorna. But then again, Diana realized that at six feet two inches 3 she wasn't exactly in the normal range either. Avalon continued, "Listen, be very careful about taking Night-Hunter into battle. Xe usually has the good sense not to drink from those xe's fighting, but you've just thrown xyr an emotional curve ball with that letter."

"Should I leave her behind?" Diana asked.

"Xe would just follow you," Avalon replied.

"Why?" Diana asked. "This is not her fight."

Avalon shook her head and said, "Because one of xyr friends may need xyr help. Xe will be there to help no matter what."

Diana nodded. She knew the type. They were what defined the word hero. "Very well. But I could not wait and give her the letter after our mission was complete. That would be disingenuous of me. I would prefer to have things out in the open."

"Again, you sound like my husband," Avalon said. "Just be sure to send them all home in one piece. Lorna and Corbin are former students of myself and my husband. All four of the Wrought are, and we are quite fond of them."

"I will take care of them," Diana said.

"Good," the woman replied.

Before Diana could say anything else, Corbin and Leif came down the stairs. The young mage had a large pouch at his side that she suspected had several of his mage tomes inside it. "I'm ready now."

"Then perhaps we should go out onto the patio and leave from there," Corbin said. "I can open a hole into Sheol there and then we can home in on Wonder Woman's reality."

"That won't be necessary," Night-Hunter said from down the hall. "I can take us there." Diana noticed that gone was the high boots, and the short dress over leggings with matching jacket. She was now dressed in a suit of high tech armored body suit. Her ears and tail were quite evident.

"You okay, Hunter?" Aquaean asked seeming to sense the Daeoni's agitation.

"I'm fine, Sean," Night-Hunter growled. "I just got an ill-timed letter from Mark."

"Bastard," Aquaean said.

"It's not his fault, Sean."

"Bitch, then," Aquaean said.

Diana spun on him, her eyes flashing. "How dare you use that word?!"

He locked eyes with her and said, "I dare use any word I damn well please, Amazon. And I don't give a crap about your Amazonian ideals. Right now, all I know is you've opened some old wounds on someone I care a great deal about. You're offended by a word? Guess what, that's your problem. Now get your ass out of here before I start suggesting to my friend that xe not help you."

"ENOUGH!" Corbin and Lorna shouted simultaneously. Lorna looked at Aquaean and said, "Let it go, Aquaean." Then turning to Diana she said, "And you too, Diana. This isn't the time or the place. You want your mother back, then let's get going."

Diana nodded and said, "Very well." She then followed the other four out of the house where a hole between realities had opened up, and the clear blue skies over Themyscira were casting a warm glow in the back yard of the home. It was big enough for all of them to walk through."

Corbin took a book that was covered in what looked like newspaper and turned the page. He concentrated for a moment and a glowing disk of energy appeared under him. He reached out for his sister who took his hand and joined him on the disk before it rose into the air. "Let's go, Night-Hunter."

(Author's note: Because of her extreme upbringing, Diana initially has difficulty in seeing Hunter as anything other than a female, not a person who is pangendered.)

1 Dragon War by Cobalt-Blue available as a Kindle e-book.

2 Wonder Woman Vol 4 #9

3 DC Database Diana of Themyscira Prime Earth


	5. Chapter 5

As Diana dropped through the azure skies above Themyscira, the scene with the tiny man called, Aquaean ate at her thoughts. Her own reaction as well as his had startled her, and that gave her pause to think. She watched as the young heroes who'd agreed to stand against her father and her father's mother in order to save her own mother, descended from the sky.

Magelight had conjured some sort of disk from the book he carried, and it descended slowly to allow him and his sister, Lifeforce to reach Themyscira safely. Next to her, Night-Hunter sank to the Earth below in a bubble of sheer force, her eyes scanning the area below them looking for any possible trouble. Next to her, under his own power the black-clad form of Pinnacle flew, his own white cape billowing behind him, his face neutral as stone.

As they approached the shores of the Island below he held out a hand and called, "Hold it for just a moment."

Diana watched as he scanned the jungles beyond the beach. "There are three groups of heavily armed and armored women hiding in the foliage. They are carrying, bows, spears, swords, and one or two battle axes. The one who seems to be in charge is a tall black woman with short cropped hair."

"How can you see them?" Diana demanded.

"Our training instructors on my original world called it omni-vision. I can shift my focus at any distance, across the electromagnetic spectrum. It allows me to see through most solid objects."

"Let me guess, you can't see through lead," Diana asked.

"I can see through lead with a little work, but heavier metals like gold and up are difficult to see through."

Diana nodded her head and said, "Let me go on ahead and see if I can defuse the situation before it becomes violent."

"That would be appreciated," Night-Hunter said coldly. Diana got the impression that the combination of her own reaction to a being that was both male and female, her being the bearer of the farewell letter, and the scene with Aquaean who was obviously her friend, had left the Daeoni with little care for her.

Dashing ahead of the others, she landed on the beach and held her hands up before shouting, "Come out of the jungle my sisters. I have brought what I hope is aid for my mother, Queen Hippolyta."

It was Phillipus, the woman described by Pinnacle who stepped out of the shadows and said, "You know as well as I that Queen Hippolyta is dead, Diana. What is this fools errand?"

Diana touched down and said, "I have searched out myriad realities to find someone who can undo Hera's curse and bring her back to life."

"And just who can defy the will of one of the gods themselves?" Phillipus demanded leaning on her spear.

"The son and daughter of the Titaness Selene and her husband Endymion," Diana said.

"And the others?" Phillipus asked nodding the direction where the four heroes of the other world floated above the shore.

"They are here to see to the safety of their friends," she replied. Diana nodded toward her mother's most trusted general was bedecked for war and carried her spear. "You are not exactly offering a friendly reception, and defying Zeus and Hera's will is not exactly the safest course of action."

"They are young," Phillipus said. But then holding up her hand, she added, "But if they can return to us our queen, your mother, I will not bar their way." She stopped and added, "But it would be better should the men of their party not step foot on the shores of Themyscira."

Diana nodded, wondering how it was she was arguing with her own general. Shaking her head, "They've agreed to that stipulation." She stopped and said, "But this _will_ happen, Phillipus. Take the soldiers back to their barracks and tell them to stay there. This I order as your queen and as the Goddess of War."

Phillipus gave her an incredulous look and asked, "The Goddess of War demanding that soldiers stand down? That is something of a new concept."

"One must know when to fight Phillipus, and with whom to fight and with whom to ally," Diana told her.

"As your mother has often told me in the past," the general replied. "I will not defy my queen, nor my goddess." Turning to the soldiers, she raised her hand and gave several signals as she barked Diana's orders to them.

Diana realized that part of her noted that the stand-down order resonated within her being like an off-key note. As the Goddess of War, not fighting seemed wrong to her. Perhaps there really was more to Ares than she'd ever thought. Turning, she flew back to the others who were waiting. Feeling somewhat sheepish, she looked at Magelight, Night-Hunter, and Pinnacle, and said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the three of you to maintain your flight while on the island."

"Let me see if I understand this correctly, Princess," Night-Hunter said. "You came to our world asking for help, but then you tell us that because three of us are male or part male, that we can't step foot on your island and have to maintain our flight?"

Diana nodded and said, "I apologize..."

Night-Hunter gave her a disgusted look and her body reshaped itself into something more fully female. "There, is that better?"

"You can shapeshift?" Diana asked.

Night-Hunter looked at her and asked sarcastically, "Can't you?"

"Anything else that might be helpful?" Diana asked the others.

"I will remain in the air," Pinnacle said simply, his voice completely flat and neutral.

Magelight shook his head and said, "No. I'm turning not into a woman for you. As much as it might surprise you and your sisters, Wonder Woman, I _enjoy_ being male, with all that entails, and I will not apologize for it. However, I will observe your 'quaint' customs and make sure I don't touch your precious, holy soil and not defile it with my maleness."

"I did not mean it like that, Nephew," she told him.

"It doesn't matter," he said sharply. Let's do what we've come here to do, and go home."

"Incoming from the North," Pinnacle said. "Two beings moving at high speed. One dressed in blue, yellow and white, and one with a green glow around her. Both are female."

"Supergirl and Green Lantern," Diana said as two forms in the distance began to brake quickly in the air around them. Diana noticed that Pinnacle moved to place himself between the twins and the incoming women.

As they stopped, Kara began to glare at the young man in black. Jessica however, was a bit more relaxed, "What's up Wonder Woman? Zatanna told us that there was an extra-dimensional incursion over Themyscira. She asked the two of us to check it out."

Diana shook her head. This was becoming too complicated. Things were not going the way she had envisioned them, and this did not help. "Everything is under control. These people have offered to help me return my mother to the throne."

"Are we talking about a coup?" Jessica asked.

"Nothing like that," Diana told her. My mother is dead. These two, Magelight and Lifeforce are my niece and nephew on my father's side."

"Didn't you say your father is Zeus?" Jessica asked.

Diana nodded, and said, "Yes."

"And the other two?" Kara asked coldly not taking her eyes from Pinnacle.

"They are here at the request of Magelight, and Lifeforce's spouses," Diana said. "To see to their safety."

Diana could detect the small changes in Supergirl's eyes as her vision shifted to various spectra to study the young man. To Pinnacle's credit, he said nothing nor did nothing. "Do you mind if I ask Green Lantern to scan you with her ring?"

"No," Pinnacle said.

"Yes," Night-Hunter replied."

The twins were silent. Diana interjected and said, "Kara, this isn't necessary. I've already used the Lasso of Truth to determine that he only means to protect his charges."

"That's not what I'm wondering about," Kara said. "He looks like... like someone we both knew," Kara said.

"He's from an alternate reality," Diana told her. "Don't go digging up things that don't concern us, or drag him into them."

Finally, Kara seemed to relax and nodded her head toward him, "My apologies."

"None required," Pinnacle said neutrally. "You are here to protect your friends and your world. I'm here to do the same." Then surprising Diana, he said, "Perhaps it would be best if you were to proceed with what you came here to do, then Night-Hunter can take us home, and all of your heart rates can return to normal. I can hear and smell the adrenaline rushing through your veins."

"Perhaps you're right," Kara said. Then she asked in Kryptonian, "Who are you?"

Pinnacle raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm assuming what you just said was some kind of test. I have no idea what it was, though."

Kara simply nodded and flew off to leave Jessica floating there looking embarrassed. With a shrug, she said, "Sorry. I'll have the Watchtower tell Zatanna that everything is under your control."

"Thank you," Diana told the other woman as she turned to streak off in a flare of green light.

"That was interesting," Lifeforce said. Then turning to Diana she asked, "Do you intend to be visiting our reality often?"

Diana shook her head and said, "No. I hadn't given it that much thought."

"Good," the young lady said. "Now if we can proceed. I believe you were going to try and recover some of your mother's hair."

Diana nodded and said, "Follow me."

The quintet made their way across the city in silence. Diana found it interesting that at this point the one hero from that other world that she had not managed to irritate was the silent one, Pinnacle. Diana was not accustomed to irritating people. Her experience was that she could usually calm people's fears, get them to trust each other. She wondered if that too was a side-effect of becoming the Goddess of War. If it was, it was one with which she could do without. Landing in the courtyard, she found Phillipus there awaiting her with an armed guard.

"I thought I ordered the soldiers to their barracks," Diana said.

"And they are, My Queen. These women are your personal guard. I am here as your adviser."

Diana fought rolling her eyes. Finally, she nodded and said, "I need to go to my mother's chambers."

"They have been left as she left them," Phillipus said, her voice thick with emotion, the loss of her queen and her friend still a dull ache in her voice even after all these months.

"That is good," Diana replied. "I need to retrieve something. Will you make sure that our guests are comfortable."

Phillipus bowed and said, "As you wish My Queen." Turning to one of the household staff, she said, "Please bring our guests some refreshments."

"Nothing for me, thank you," Magelight said.

"Nor me," his sister added.

"I think I will pass as well," Night-Hunter commented.

"And you?" Phillipus asked the floating form of Pinnacle.

"I'm good," the young man said neutrally.

As Diana headed off to her mother's chambers, she heard Phillipus say, "The women are welcome to step down out of your conveyances." Diana did not hear the reply.

Entering her mother's chambers, she felt a peaceful feeling come across her. She could almost smell her mother's spirit. Striding through the outer quarters, she entered her mother's private area, and found the conch and gold brush her mother favored, a gift from Diana several years ago. Taking the whole brush she returned to the main hall to find the heroes from another world still hovering above the floor.

"I thought at least you, Lorna and Hunter would set yourselves down and relax," Diana said.

Lorna looked at her and said, "I will not tread where my brother is unwelcome." Looking at the brush she asked, "Is that it?"

Diana nodded and fought her hands trembling as she handed it to the young woman. "It is her personal brush."

The young woman took the brush from her hand and she began to pull several strands of hair from it. Studying them carefully, she separated them into two groups, and held out one for Diana. "I have no use for these," she said.

"You will not touch the Queen!" Diana heard the guard Io scream.

Moving nearly as fast as she, Pinnacle placed himself between Io's hurled spear and Lorna. Catching the spear in mid flight, he spun it, snapped it over his knee and dropped its pieces to the ground. Before the two parts hit the ground, Diana screamed, "Io, no!"

"This is ridiculous!" Night-Hunter said under her breath and began plucking at the air. Suddenly the globe of force around her expanded slightly to enclose her friends, and the world seemed to move in a flash that she was only able to track with her divine senses. The four out-worlders seemed to commune with each other mentally. Their heads nodded, shook, and they gesticulated as if they were arguing. Finally, the bubble expanded again to include Diana and she could move.

"What is this?" Diana demanded.

"We're between ticks of the clock," Night-Hunter said. "This way we can at least work in peace."

She looked over at the twins who were both frowning deeply at her. Finally it was Lorna's voice who spoke, "Tell me of the Sons of Themyscira."

Diana shrugged and said, "I assume you have already found out about it through some magical means of which I am unaware."

Oddly enough it was Corbin's voice whose was softer as he asked, "I would like to hear your side of the situation."

Diana sighed and said, "For over three millennia Themyscira has sat where it is now, her inhabitants immortal warriors guarding a terrible entrance into Hade's realm from where horrible demons sought to enter the world of mortals. Although the average Amazon is stronger, faster, more durable than mortals, and although the average Amazon will live forever, they can, and have died in battle. When that happened, our population had to be replenished."

"And without men, how did you do that?" Lorna asked angrily.

"Amazons who wished to bear children would raid ships at sea and mate with the sailors on board. Those that were unwilling were killed and tossed overboard. Those who were willing and those who sometimes were not would be used to father children, and then killed to join their brothers in the sea."

"And the female children would be raised as immortal Amazons?" Corbin asked.

Diana nodded sadly thinking of this dark evil practice. "Yes."

"And the male children?" Lorna asked harshly.

"The original plan was to throw them to the sea. But Hephaestus intervened and offered us weapons to use against the demons in return for the sons so that they might work the forge for him. So that they would learn what he could teach them."

"And when you found out about this, what did you do?" Corbin asked.

"I went to Hephaestus in order to set them free. But they didn't consider themselves enslaved. They were thankful to Hephaestus for saving them from a fate similar to the one Hera cast upon him. But it still wasn't right. I brought those who were willing to Themyscira and tried to make a place for them so that they too could know their birthright."

"What happened then?" Lorna asked, her voice still hard as the iron of Hephaestus' forge.

"It was not an easy transition. Many Amazons did not wish to share the island with men. You see, all of my sisters are the souls of women who died violently at the hands of men who slaked their lust upon their bodies. Although few remember that past life, they all carry with them the bitterness that fate wrought upon their souls."

Lorna began to speak but her brother held up a hand and said, "Go on, War Goddess of the Amazons." For some reason that command irritated Diana and she felt her ire growing.

"While I was gone from the island, carrying out my duties as Wonder Woman, my sister Donna was brought here and her memories altered. She took the throne, and with a small band of warriors who felt as she did, that Themyscira would never be shared with men, attacked their camp and murdered them."

"And what did you do?" Corbin asked.

"They were tried, and found guilty. The warriors acting under Donna's orders were sent to Hephaestus to replace their sons and brothers. Donna was for a while imprisoned in Tartarus. Recently however, she was removed from there, her memories erased and she was given a new life to serve alongside her old teammates, the Titans."

"And this policy of raping and killing men to get yourselves pregnant?" Lorna asked.

"I have ordered it ended," Diana said.

"And has it?" Corbin asked.

"I have no reason to believe it has not," Diana said.

The twins looked at each other and Diana got the feeling that they were communicating between themselves. Finally, Lorna looked at her and asked, "Do you have plans of how to replace your population in the future?"

"We have not given that much consideration, yet," Diana told her. And it was honestly a question that had haunted her for a long time. "I suspect that we will simply start purchasing the equipment and materials for artificial impregnation from the outside world. Perhaps from Wayne Tech."

"Do you feel that your Amazon ideals of truth and justice have been served in this instance?" Lorna asked.

Diana shook her head and said, "No. And I have no idea of how to rectify it. I know that I have a twin brother named Jason somewhere out in the world who was taken away for the sin of being male. I am open to suggestions on how to rectify the situation."

The twins looked to each other. Finally, Lorna spoke, "It is not our job here to judge you or the Amazons, Diana. You asked us here for a specific reason. You asked us here to break a spell upon your mother and to return to the Amazons their queen. But our relationship with Aerin and Leif have changed our outlook on the world somewhat, as I suspect we have changed theirs. But one of the things we've learned from them is that there cannot be justice, and there cannot be forgiveness without restitution. Furthermore, we've learned that we leave a bit of ourselves with those with whom we associate and they leave some of themselves with us. Although you are a kind and for the most part gentle person, the same cannot be said for the Amazons."

"What are you trying to tell me?" Diana asked fearing the answer.

"The Amazons have taken the two most precious gifts the gods have given humanity and twisted them into something vile and evil. The joy of the sharing of physical love is something that is meant for both women and men, whether it is with one of our own gender or the opposite. It is a beautiful act which brings together a family, and creates new life. The Amazons have twisted that gift into rape, murder, and sex-based infanticide. That is something with which we refuse to tie our spirits." Lorna took the hair in her hands and dropped it to the floor. "You will have to find another way to return your mother. We will not aid you in this."

Diana's temper flared and she stepped toward the twins and said, "You said your job wasn't to judge me, to judge us, but that's exactly what you are doing!"

Corbin shook his head and said, "No. We are simply choosing not to become embroiled even further. It seems to us," he gestured to his companions, "that nobody except you has made any attempt at restitution for the innocent lives the Amazons have taken. Nobody has been really punished for those crimes. Those who murdered the Sons of Themyscira have simply been given a new job. The woman who led the attack has been rewarded with a new life. I see no justice here. No justice for the Sons of Themyscira, no justice for the men who were raped and or murdered, and no justice for the sons, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, daughters, and mothers of the men who never came home to their families."

Diana began to realize that she was quickly losing her chance to save her mother, to give up one of the mantles she found so constricting. She'd managed to simply make a mess of the whole situation. And now her last best hope was crumbling in front of her. "How do I make restitution?" she demanded.

Again, Lorna began to speak, but Corbin cut her off with, "You don't. You can't. You are not the guilty party."

"Why do you not let her speak? Why do you cut her off?" Diana demanded. "She is perfectly capable of voicing her own opinions."

"Trust me," he knows that," Lorna said harshly. "He is cutting me off to keep this conversation more civil, Queen of Murderers. He is cutting me off because his soul is far more gentle than my own concerning these matters. The Amazons have let their hatred of what happened to them turn them into what they hate the most." Her eyes flashed and her hand glowed a bright blue. "My power can affect even that of a god. If it has DNA, I can change it, warp it to my will. There are so many things I could do to you and the Amazons as a whole, but my brother's soul is what stays my hand, stays my power. Not out of control, but out of love. Can you say that?" her voice became harsher and sarcastic. "Oh wait, your mother threw your brother away. You'll never know."

"What price do you demand for returning my Mother?" Diana finally asked. "Not as one goddess to another, not as one Olympian to another, but as one woman to another?"

"How about as one human being to another?" Night-Hunter said.

She turned to the changeling and asked, "Are you a god?"

Much to her surprise, the Daeoni shrugged and said, "My great grandmother is Morrigan. My grandmother is Mabd. Do you want to find out?"

Diana shook her head and said, "I am speaking to Lorna and Corbin."

"You're speaking, but not listening," Night-Hunter told her.

Diana shook her head and raised an eyebrow as she stared at Pinnacle before asking, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "And what input do you have?"

"None, Your Majesty. I am here to keep anyone from hurting Lorna and Corbin," he said calmly. "To me, as long as you don't raise a weapon, this is a family matter."

"A man of uncommon sense," she said. He simply gave her a questioning look and said nothing else. Turning back to Lorna and Corbin she asked, "What is your price?"

Lorna and Corbin exchanged looks and then Corbin said, "Get Hera and Zeus' permission with full knowledge of what has happened here to the Sons of Themyscira."

"They are aware of what has happened here," she replied. "Trust me, they are aware."

"Then get their permission and I will do it," Corbin said.

"And your price?" she asked Lorna.

"To be named after the deed is done," Lorna replied.

"I shall return," she said a she strode across the courtyard toward the temple and straight into the barrier. Much to her surprise, she found that it stopped her cold. Turning back to the Daeoni, she asked, "Do you mind?"

"Are you guards going to throw any more spears at us?"

"I'll see that they don't," Diana replied.

"Very well," Night-Hunter said and the bubble contracted back around her form.

"Halt!" Diana yelled as the rest of her guards moved in for the attack.

"These are our guests. You will not harm them."

"No one will lay a hand on you, Your Majesty. Not in my presence," Io replied angrily.

"I appreciate your concern Io," Diana told her. "But I am fully capable of taking care of myself, and she was only handing me back what she did not need. I'm afraid your actions have caused more of a rift than we had before. Now I find myself needing the advice of the gods themselves. Please treat our guests with courtesy while I am away."

"As Your Majesty commands," Phillipus said looking somewhat confused.

Diana shook her head and then took off for the temple. From there, she opened the portal to Olympus where the rest of her family stood around a pool looking down. "I was wondering when you would come to me, Daughter," Zeus' voice boomed across the courtyard surrounding the pool.

Looking down on the water she could see the scene on Themyscira reflected on its surface. "I take it that you know why I am here?"

"Say the words," Hera told her.

"Are they truly the children of Selene and Endymion?" Diana asked.

"You have chosen a poor time to ask that question," Athena interjected. "Perhaps that should have been among the first questions you asked."

"They are," Zeus told her.

"Say the words, Diana," Hera repeated her command.

"Do they have permission for them return my mother to me?" Diana asked. "I beseech you, Father of the Gods, and Great Hera. Please."

"I have no animosity toward those children," Hera replied. "I"m rather impressed with Selene's ability to protect her husband from mine, and for being able to maintain her marriage. I will not act against them if they are able to do as you ask." She smiled and added, "Hippolyta on the other hand is a different story."

"Why? Diana asked.

"What do I have to gain? My husband gets back an immortal lover. He has you sitting on the Throne of War after you killed my son. And me? I am bereft one more child of marriage."

"I did that to save you," Diana replied.

"As you did," Hera answered. "However, why should I return a queen to an island who knows nothing of what I stand for. I am not one of your patrons. You chose instead my sister, Hestia to create hearth and home, but not marriage. You have families but no marriages."

"Families are what we make them," Diana said.

"And yours has made harlots, rapists, murderers, slave traders, and child abusers. Again, why should I relent?"

"You tried to reverse it earlier, Hera. Why would you change your mind now?"

"Because now I have nothing to gain from it," Hera replied. "Now you wish it done to help you, not me. And why should I help you and not myself?"

"Because I helped you with the First Born," Diana answered.

"No, you helped yourself to the mantle of War," Hera said.

"You know I tried to turn that down. It was by the insistence of all here that I took that mantle," Diana told her.

"It's not the act of trying to turn it down. It's the fact that you purposefully and willfully killed my son to get to the First Born. Like the Sons of Themyscira, he met his end at the hands of one of the Amazons." Hera said. "Your mother is no mother. She threw away her own son for the sin of being born male." Suddenly a dark light appeared in Hera's eyes. She stopped and seemed to be enraptured in thought. "However, I may consider relenting after all. My husband likes to raise his children to godhood. Perhaps I should do the same." She locked eyes with Diana and added, "With Jason. Perhaps there is a way after all."

Diana felt her blood run cold as the Queen of the gods continued, "Here are my terms. If an Amazon wishes to conceive a child, they must pray to me, and make sacrifice. If they wish to have a successful birth, they must pray to me, and make sacrifice. Any such conception or pregnancy without these concessions will result in a monster like the world has not seen since the days of old. Furthermore, any such conception that comes through rape and or murder will bring down the curse on that particular Amazon themselves. I am pleased with neither the Amazons, nor their harlot queen. You want my patronage, then your people have to keep your end of the bargain beyond an occasional 'Great Hera'."

Diana bit back her anger at Hera's words. She'd never realized just how cruel the woman could be. Even when she was aiding her, she felt that Hera had been badly used by her father. Now she was unsure of that. Finally, she bowed her head and said, "Very well, I will see that it is done. My mother will see that it is done," Diana replied. Then turning to her father, she asked, "Father?"

Zeus stroked his beard and looked at her closely. She found that she did not care for that particular look in his eye. Before he could speak, Hephaestus asked"Father?"

"Yes my son?" Zeus turned to him and asked.

"The children of Selene have a valid point. Has justice been served here?"

"Justice is as we decree it," Zeus told him.

Then looking back at the water, he considered the question. "I would like to know the girl's price. She drives a shrewd bargain, that one." He looked at Diana and said, "I think she might be wiser than you, Daughter."

"Listen," Athena said as she indicated the pool. "They speak among themselves, mind to mind."

"All except the dark one. His mind is quiet," Artemis replied. "He worries me. We should kill him now."

"He is not ours to kill, Daughter," Zeus said. "He has acted in no way different than he vowed."

Diana turned her attention back to the pool, and she could hear the mind voices of the other three as they carried on a conversation.

* _What are you planning on demanding as your price?*_ Night-Hunter asked.

* _I would rather not think about it right now, if you don't mind. I'm not sure that our conversation is not being noticed, even telepathically,_ * Lorna replied.

"I take it back," Artemis added. "She worries me even more."

* _We're into this far too deep. Leif warned me that something like this might happen,_ * Corbin replied.

* _How would Leif know?_ * Lorna asked.

The young man smiled and said, * _I would rather not think about that right now either,_ * he replied.

"They know they are being observed?" Hera asked.

"They suspect," Zeus said with a slight hint of paternal pride. "They are not stupid."

"Yes, they are," Artemis said. "They would pit their wills against the gods of Olympus."

"They are the scion of a son of Zeus and a Titaness, Artemis. They are not mere mortals," Hephaestus said. "And they came here to help and discovered a dark secret that makes them rightfully question if helping is warranted."

"Shut up ugly," Artemis told him. "When I want your opinion Brother, I will ask for it."

Hephaestus shrugged and turned to leave. "I will remember that when you next need arrows, Sister." He disappeared in an acrid cloud of black smoke.

"I vote that you withhold your permission, Father. It is not like you to change your mind about punishments," Artemis said to her father.

"This is not a democracy, Artemis. When I want your opinion, I will ask for it," Zeus threw her words back into her teeth. "Besides, it was Hera's punishment." He took a deep breath and said, "I will agree as my wife has agreed."

Hera's head turned to face her husband in shock. Diana realized that she'd been neatly backed into a corner. She was sure that Zeus was going to say no, so she had granted her permission. But he had played his own game, and Diana got the feeling that a particular paternal pride, both in the children below and in her, had something to do with it. She found for the first time in her life, that she actually valued her father's approval. It was a strange feeling for her.

Zeus waved his hands across the pool and nodded to his wife. With a chagrined expression on her face, she said, "I grant my permission, son and daughter of Selene. Furthermore, I grant the Daughter of Selene to extract whatever price she sees fit from the Amazons."

It was Zeus' turn to look astonished. He quickly recovered from surprise and said, "You have my permission. Proceed." He stopped for a second and said, "And as to your father, all is forgiven."

Frowning, Diana turned and left her father and his wife to their game. She had more important things to consider. Justice had not been served this day, or for any day in a long time on Paradise Island. The world needed someone in the role of War, and she had no way of giving up that mantle short of dying at the hands of a relative. The world needed Wonder Woman while threats like Darkseid, was in the universe, and Themyscira needed a full time queen. The democratic council had not worked, and Donna had proved that she was incapable of being a just queen. Good and innocent men had died at the hands of the Amazons, and nobody had really paid for that crime.

Arriving back in the main hall, Diana looked at her guests and said, "I apologize. I have mistreated you in the name of my sisters, and in the name of Themyscira." She looked at Phillipus and said, "Either you keep the guards under control, or I will. First, send someone to gather all of our sisters not on critical duty here in the great hall. They may come armed if they feel the need, but the first person who draws a weapon on our guests without mine or your permission will be exiled from Themyscira."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Phillipus replied as she went to the door and gave the necessary commands to the guards outside. "It may take up to an hour."

Diana simply nodded and said, "I understand." Then looking to the four youngsters floating in the air, she said, "I sincerely ask that you bear with me for a short while longer. My subjects need to see this. It is time I acted as a Queen, and as a Goddess."

"As Your Majesty wishes," Night-Hunter said. Diana got the feeling that there was far more to this young Daeoni than met the eye.

"I'm assuming that the booming voices in the sky were Grandfather and Hera?" Lorna asked.

"They were," Diana replied.

"Thought so," Corbin said as he flipped through several books of spells which he was laying out around him, small sacks of sand holding them open to the appropriate pages. Diana noted that the disk upon which they stood had grown considerably larger.

While one Amazon after another filed into the seats of the great hall around them, he spent the next hour going over the books, making notes and in general ignoring everything around him. Diana found his actions to be both fascinating and confounding. His sister simply watched him with amused awe and love in her eyes. Diana wondered what it was like to know your brother, to love him unconditionally like that, and to know that you are trusted and loved back.

As for the Daeoni and Pinnacle, Wonder Woman had no idea how they occupied their attention while waiting for the entire population of Themyscira to gathered around them. However it was just under an hour when a guard came to the door and whispered to Phillipus. She then turned to Diana and said, "All is ready, Your Majesty."

Diana nodded and looked up into the seats that were filled to the brim with the women warriors of Themyscira. Knowing that all eyes were on her and her guests, she looked over at Corbin and Pinnacle and said, "Please step down onto the land that is Themyscira. No Amazon will attack you for accepting my hospitality." She knew her voice was heard throughout the hall, and her meaning was clear to her sisters.

"No!" someone screamed out from the seats.

"No!" another voice joined hers.

"I think it would be best if we stayed up here, Majesty," Night-Hunter said.

Diana took a deep breath and nodded, understanding what she meant. If they were to accomplish what she wished, then it might be best not to push things. "How badly do you want your mother back?" Lorna asked.

"More than I can express," Diana replied.

Lorna raised an eyebrow and said, "Then I will wait to name my price. I'm glad you have everyone gathered here. It's going to make it so much easier." That comment worried Diana. She was starting to realize just how big that price could be.

"These two," Diana said loudly, "are the son and daughter of the Titaness Selene. You all heard Hera and Zeus grant them permission to proceed."

"Proceed with what?" Phillipus demanded. Diana knew what she was doing. She was giving her queen a chance to explain what was happening.

"They have the ability to return my mother, the rightful queen of Themyscira to us. All the man, Corbin demanded in payment..."

"I can guess!" a disgusted voice rang out.

"...all he demanded was that I get the permission of Hera and Zeus first."

The hall was suddenly abuzz with conversation, and nodding heads. It would seem that his choice was something with which even the most rabid of her sisters could not argue. It was considered wise not to irritate the gods.

"And the others?" Phillipus asked.

"Two are here as the personal guards of the Children of Selene. They have no demands to make. The other is his twin sister, Lorna. Her price is a boon to be named later."

Again there was a wave of discussion that ran through the crowd. Diana turned to Lorna and said, "Please proceed."

Lorna placed several blonde hairs in the palm of her hand. "From the brush of Queen Hippolyta."

The power in her hand began to glow as an embryo formed from the hair. Then it rapidly began to grow into an infant, then a little girl. It was at this point where she nodded to her brother who gestured toward her and a regal tunic appeared on the child as she continued to grow into a young woman, and finally into a full adult.

A gasp went up through the hall as all eyes were glued to the form of the Queen. But this close, Diana could see that the eyes were vacant, empty of thought, of personality, and soul. It was then that Corbin himself began to glow. He held out one hand and wisps of energy flowed from the very walls around them, from the floor, and from all over the island until they formed a brightly glowing ball in his hand. He shifted his weight and the energy soaked into his palm, and then pulsed through is body, until his other hand glowed. He reached over and touched the empty vessel that was the Queen's body.

Four spears were cast from the audience at him. Four bursts of speed intercepted them, and then Pinnacle snapped them all in one motion and dropped the pieces to the floor. The Queen's Guard moved to block the dais upon which they stood, as her mother's body gasped once, and the light of life and intellect flowed into her eyes.

"Hold!" Hippolyta's voice echoed off the halls as everyone in the room stopped what they were doing. It was the most beautiful sound that Diana had heard in years. Every person in the room stopped in their place, frozen by the majesty of Hippolyta's presence.

She turned to the crowd and asked, "How is this so?"

Corbin leaned over to his sister and said, "The first person who says, 'because he IS the Kwisatz Haderach,' I'm going to turn into a turnip'."

"Hush," Lorna said with a grin.

Beyond them, Night-Hunter was again plucking unseen points in the air, and on the ground. In the meantime, Corbin returned to his books, and his notes.

"Mother!" Diana turned her eyes from them and embraced the Queen.

"What have you done, Daughter?" Hippolyta asked. Oh how Diana loved the sound of the way her mother said that word: daughter.

"I have brought you back to Paradise Island. I have set you upon the throne once again," Diana said.

"But why, Diana?"

"Because I cannot serve as queen, as goddess, and as Wonder Woman at the same time."

"But at what cost?" Hippolyta asked. "I heard Hera's demands. It would set her above even the Patrons of Themyscira."

Diana nodded and said, "It is her just due, Mother. Themyscira has much for which to answer. That is a small part of the payment I expect she is going to extract." Then turning to Lorna, she said, "Name your price, Niece."

Lorna nodded to her and said, "Bring to me every woman who has killed a man in order to conceive a child. Furthermore give each of the remaining women in the stands these instruments of voting."

Next to her, Corbin waved his hand, and a large box and two jars of marbles appeared at Phillipus' feet. One jar was filled with blue marbles, the other with red.

"What?" Phillipus demanded. "That's nearly half the island!"

Lorna looked at Hippolyta and asked, "Your evil runs that deep?"

"It was necessary to see to our survival," Hippolyta said.

Lorna shook her head and said, "No. It wasn't. You could have just as easily seduced the men and sent them on their way with no memory of it. I know that you have at least that much power among your people. Murder was not necessary except to feed your own twisted lusts." She looked at Diana and said, "We had a bargain, _Aunty_."

Diana nodded and told Phillipus, "Do it."

"You heard her," Phillipus said. "Bring us every mother on Themyscira, short of the queen herself. And give each of the women in the stands one of each of these marbles." Looking to Lorna the Amazon general asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"I'm planning on a little social experiment, Phillipus. I am going to let your own people decide whether or not they want to grow into a culture where men and women live, work, love, and fight beside each other, or if they want to stay a backwards group of extremists who the world would be better off without."

"That's unkind," Phillipus said before giving the orders she was commanded to issue.

"And you call what those women did, kind?" Lorna demanded.

"I call it unfortunate," Phillipus said. "I call it the casualties of war."

"For it to be war, the other side has to know there is a conflict," Lorna replied. "Otherwise it is a slaughter."

It took nearly an hour to gather up all the women Lorna demanded. It was a rather large group of women, nearly a thousand. Lorna looked at them and said, "Each of you has become what you claim to hate. You have become no better than the men in the distant past who hurt you in a way that no person should ever be hurt. But instead of healing from that hurt, you hung on to your pain, and your hatred. It has made you as bad as the men who hurt you, in some cases even worse."

"Does the Daughter of Selene plan on talking us to death?" someone called out from the crowd.

Lorna shook her head and said, "I have no plans on killing you whatsoever. I simply plan on helping you understand just how evil what you have done is. Furthermore, I'm going to give your sisters a chance to set that evil right, or to continue down the path toward destruction you are on. Your lives are my price for giving the Goddess of War back your queen."

She smiled and added, "See how easily you are willing to trade in other people to get the lives you want? Even the best of you is willing to give away her sisters for her mother." Turning to Diana she said, "I give you one more chance Daughter of Hippolyta. Are you a woman of her word? You are now trapped between your word, and what you claim are your ethics. No matter what, you come out of this tarnished, and the Amazons will be lessened."

Diana felt her words hit her like a hammer. She had betrayed her sisters for her mother. She had made no decision different than these women who had traded away sons for weapons. She was no better than they. She did the only thing she could. The only thing her honor would allow her to do. "I would offer myself in their place," she said. "You yourself said that your power can affect even a god."

Lorna shook her head, and gestured to the other women looking on. "You are the last best hope for those women. I cannot accept that. You must stand by your word or break it."

Diana looked at the women standing nearby. Many of them she knew, some she called friend. All of them she respected. It was gentle Mala who called out, "I am glad for this chance to make amends, Diana. Keep your word. I will go to whatever fate this witch demands. For our queen!" She raised a fist high in salute. Many of the women nodded their heads and a slow rumble of "For the queen," went through their ranks.

"Pay attention, Hippolyta," Lorna said. "This lesson is for you too." She then turned toward the women and a wave of light went through their gathering. Remarkably, they began to grow younger and younger. In a reverse of what had happened to their queen, they became young women, then girls, then children, then infants, and finally they slipped down to a fetus, then an embryo. Then there was a shift in the light and the embryos became fetuses again, and then infants, and finally, young toddlers. All of them male.

They looked around curiously, but seemed not to be afraid. Lorna turned her face to the crowd in the stands who stood in awe. Nine hundred sixty-seven little boys need homes. They were once your sisters, but now they have a chance to grow up to be young men, to be brothers, and sons. I put this question to you, warriors of Themyscira. Do you accept these children, these sisters who are now brothers among your ranks, or do you send them away as they did their own sons? Do you have what it takes to live alongside boys and men, or will you keep your feet on the path of separation and hate?"

"The process is simple," Night-Hunter spoke for the first time since Diana's mother had been returned. "You each get one vote. If you put in a blue marble, then you keep your sisters as they are. If you put in a red one, then they will go away from Themyscira, never to trouble your shores again."

"This is cruel!" Hippolyta cried.

"Please," Lorna replied. "Don't speak to me of cruelty with the bodies of your own sons buried on this Island murdered by your own people."

"What if there is a tie?" Diana asked.

"Then the deciding vote falls to your newly returned queen," Lorna said.

"You are a hard woman, Daughter of Selene," Hippolyta accused.

"I could have walked away. But your daughter was so desperate to relieve herself of the crown of queen that she was willing to make any bargain," Lorna said. "I wanted to walk away and leave your whole stinking island to sink into the barbarity it has preserved for three thousand years. But your daughter insisted on first bargaining with us, then with Hera."

"This has done little to strengthen relations between my family and Selene," Diana said.

"We never had plans of joining either the Olympians nor the Titans," Corbin said. "We have our own path to walk. You came to _us_."

"The man dares speak thus to our queen and her daughter!" someone in the crowd said.

"I can see where this is going already," Lorna commented.

It took nearly another hour of trading barbs with the Titans before the counting was done. Phillipus finally brought the tally to the queen. She read the numbers and turned to the crowd and said, "It is with heavy heart that I announce that with a vote of seven hundred eighty six to three hundred two, the population has voted to send these children off the island to whatever fate awaits them beyond our shores."

Diana could see the tears nearly forming in Lorna's eyes. Corbin was openly weeping. Only Pinnacle and Night-Hunter seemed unmoved. She did not understand them at all. Looking up to the roof of the building, Lorna nodded, and said, "Your sons, Hera." Suddenly a golden light appeared around the young boys, and they faded up into the sky."

"What happened to them?" Phillipus demanded.

"Why do you care? They were boys. Your citizens voted to be rid of them. They are no longer your problem."

"They were our sisters," Phillipus said.

"I think we are done here," Corbin commented. Looking over at Diana, he said, "I would not return to our reality, were I you, Princess. I'm afraid you will not be welcome."

"Please tell me where you sent my sisters," Diana asked.

"To a mother who will love them, who will give them a home, and a mission in life. My mother tells me that having little boys around the house can be great fun."

"How can I find them?" Diana nearly pleaded.

"I think you should concentrate on replacing them, were I you. Your population is down again by nearly half."

"Bru... a friend has agreed to supply us with the proper medical technology to develop sex specific births," Diana said. "I can at least promise no more raids, no more murders, and no more boys sent to Hephaestus."

"That's a beginning," Lorna said. Then looking at the crowd of shocked women, she added, "But it is only a beginning. You have some agreements to keep with Hera. But if you really want to find your sisters, find Jason." Then leaning into Diana, she whispered, "Next time you should consider a republic over a democracy. In a democracy the mob rules. At least in a republic, your basic rights are protected from the majority." Then turning to Night-Hunter and Corbin, she asked, "Are you two finished?"

Night-Hunter nodded and said, "That was very enlightening. I think I would like to speak with you sometime about a difficulty among my own people."

"I hope there are no dark secrets there," Corbin said.

"Does my mother's cook's fudge recipe count?" Night-Hunter asked.

"Depends on how good it is," Corbin replied.

"Very," Night-Hunter said.

"Then yes, it counts," Corbin said with a sly grin as a hole opened up in reality and they all stepped through leaving the Amazons in a state of shock. Zatanna had warned her from the beginning that the price here was going to be high. Now she knew how high. Damn, she missed _her_ Clark.

Turning to her mother, she said, "Perhaps we should withdraw and meet with the council.

 **Epilog: Avengers Mansion**

Tony finished watching the video of the fight outside the mansion and then the one of the conversation in the rec room. The conclusion he came to was too frightening to contemplate. Thor had been holding back all these years. All that talk about Asgardians being advanced aliens was pure garbage. The concept was more than his fragile ego could handle. He silently walked to the desk and poured himself a drink. Two hours later he was passed out on the floor.

Across town, Ares sat down to dinner with his son. By now, Tony Stark should be just about in a stupor after watching that video. Ares had plans for the Avengers. He had plans for a great many of the heroes of this world, and he thought he would start with the Hulk. He had just the right scientist in mind.


End file.
